The Premier of Gauteng, Ms Nomvula Mokonyane
MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development, Ms Nandi Mayathula-Khoza
Executive Mayors for Sedibeng and Lesedi district municipalities
HODs, management and staff of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, and representatives of the national departments
Ward councilors
Emerging and established farmers
Ladies and gentlemen
Many thanks to the organisers for inviting me to share some thoughts with you today. Let me first convey the greetings and apologies of Minister Nkwinti who would have dearly loved to be with you today. Let me start by quoting from the Minister on the subject of the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme (CRPD). He has this to say:
"The CRPD has set us on a new course for post-colonial reconstruction and development. It is about changing rural people‟s lives, and enabling them to take control of their destiny and enjoy the freedoms and dignity promised by our constitution. People remain central to development and, as such, the Programme will consciously place particular emphasis on empowering rural communities to take charge of their destiny.”
Those words are to be found in the Minister‟s foreword to the department‟s new strategic plan for 2011-2014. If you haven‟t read it yet, do so. This document and the evolving vision and mission is intended to guide our work for the next five years. It will be your bible – or at least your manifesto – in the coming days. So what is the Minister saying in regard to CRPD?
First, he is saying that we seek to empower rural people and communities. It is not about hand-outs and social grants –although in the short-term these play a crucial role in preventing hunger. It is rather about equipping and capacitating our people to create their own opportunities and their own businesses and employment. We all know the song: “Sisters are doing it for themselves.” As a department we want to add a new verse: “Rural people are doing it for themselves.” Hence we place much greater emphasis now on training, skills development and mentorship.
So, crucially, as a department we are moving from a welfare model of development to a productive model of development. So it is not enough simply to hand out land willy-nilly. Our experience is that all too often this is setting people up for failure. Rather land transfers now need to be accompanied by viable business plans, and adequate training, resources, investment and support to ensure that the project survives and flourishes. This is the underlying thrust of the Recapitalisation and Development Programme, which includes the following goals to:
- increase production and food security
- graduate small emerging farmers into commercial farmers
- create employment opportunities in agricultural
- promote training, mentorship and strategic partnerships.
The Minister talks about empowering and developing communities – not just individuals. This is crucial if we are to hope to be able to provide a viable alternative to urban migration, and make rural communities an attractive option with real opportunities for those who remain and help build these communities. That is why we talk of social mobilisation and stakeholder councils and securing buy-in from rural people.
Experience and research shows clearly that you cannot impose rural development from the top down. It only works if those rural people themselves take control of their own destiny. This vision necessitates a holistic – and comprehensive - approach to rural development. Think of the chronic conditions of underdevelopment – poverty and unemployment, disease, lack of infrastructure and basic services, lack of economic opportunities etc. - that persist in many rural areas at present.
It is our job, as a department working with all the other roleplayers, to turn this situation around which means creating economic opportunities, jobs, reviving agricultural activities and providing the full range of services health, education, roads etc clearly the department cannot achieve all these objectives on its own.
Rather we act as a catalyst, to facilitate and bring people together – for example the departments of education, health, public works, transport, human settlement, agriculture etc, as well as private partnerships – all are vital for an integrated programme of rural development. This is why we speak of a Comprehensive Rural Development Programme.
I like the way your MEC puts it in her briefing: “Rural development is a cross-cutting function that calls for all stakeholders to partake in conceptualisation, planning, development, implementation and monitoring at all levels.” Let us remind ourselves that the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform was established in 2009 reflecting government‟s prioritisation of rural development.
So we are a new department established with the full understanding that rural areas remain extremely underdeveloped economically and socially and with a clear focus on agrarian transformation. By this we mean a rapid and fundamental change in the relations, systems and patterns of ownership and control of land, livestock, cropping and community.
Our vision as a department is to create “vibrant, equitable, sustainable rural communities” - which means creating economic opportunities, jobs, reviving agricultural activities and the full range of services - which is the right of every citizen. We also talk about equitable communities – By this we are saying that the very unequal racial, class and gender relations which existed historically in the countryside – simply have to change. And we need to do this with the communities – not in a top-down fashion. Let me say something about the broad political context in which you have to operate as you roll out CRDP:
- First, we have said that rural development is one of the five priority areas of government.
- Government has adopted an Outcomes Based Approach to delivery with the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform being responsible for Outcome seven, namely, the establishment of “vibrant, equitable and sustainable rural communities and food security for all”.
- More recently, in the state of the nation address, President Zuma declared 2011 the year of job creation.
So when we plan the roll out of CRDP programmes, it must be done in relation to the broad objectives I have outlined. In other words we cannot afford to work in silos anymore – we need to constantly refer to the bigger policy picture and work together towards those objectives.
Key principles As a government and as a department we have said that we need to consult with our people and not simply impose programmes from top down. That is why we talk about stakeholder councils and social mobilisation – because it is vital that the people affected by our programmes and the beneficiaries take ownership of those programmes and play a lead role in their own development.
We need to build this in to all our discussions and practices. We want to hear what the beneficiaries are saying. We want them to tell us the challenges they face – and yes, indeed, we need to listen to the problems they experience – and especially when they are perceived to be coming from the side of the department. In the recent FES workshop – Farm Equity Share scheme - it was encouraging to see the preparatory work that had been done in this respect. Every single beneficiary involved in the FES scheme was consulted, further, every household involved was profiled, and a report prepared which depicts the needs analyses of these households.
Linked to this is the need for ongoing monitoring and evaluation of all programmes and projects. That is the only way that scientifically, we can gauge the impact – or lack of impact – of programmes. You need to speak about the relevant M and E processes in place, and review them if they do not assist you. National Rural Youth Service Corps (NARYSEC) unemployment and lack of opportunities continue to be major challenges facing rural communities, and the youth in particular. In this regard the department embarked last year upon the National Rural Youth Service Corps programme - or NARYSEC for short – a programme that has already created nearly 10,000 employment opportunities.
Under NARYSEC:
- We will recruit 4 young people from each rural ward – with a gender balance; and including people with disabilities.
- We provide a small income for two years – which must be shared with the families (This is a condition of acceptance on the programme).
- We provide training which begins with discipline and work ethic – a joint programme with the Defence Force.
- The NARYEC recruits then assist us with profiling rural communities to establish the actual real needs of those communities. [I need to emphasise this. Part of the CRPD approach is to establish what communities actually need, rather than parachuting in with a one-size-fits-all formula.]
- At the end of two years of further skills development, the youngsters return to their communities and are supported to use their skills in establishing businesses with the goal of eventually employing others.
- And again the shift is from a welfare model - to a productive developmental model.
The Role of the State
If, as we believe, the land is central to national liberation and future development, a number of questions must be posed and debated:
- How do we unlock the economic opportunities both within agriculture and the non-farm rural economy for disadvantaged and emerging individuals and communities?
- Who should be the beneficiaries of the land reform?
As a minimum, as part of a broad strategy for rural development, we need to do the following:
- secure the position of farm workers and farm dwellers against evictions and improve their lives
- revitalise subsistence agriculture in the former „reserves‟ („tribal homelands‟)
- rapidly promote black commercial agriculture; whilst mindful that white commercial agriculture will continue to play a crucial role in ensuring food security.
Clearly the role of the state is crucial here for which we need not apologise. If we look to history the South African state has always played a central role in structuring property, race and class relations in the countryside – hitherto to promote white farmers as they competed with their black counter-parts for labour, land, water, grazing rights, other resources and markets. In the past white farmers looked to the state to solve their problems. Herein lie the origins of the Land Bank, the 1913 Land Act, various large-scale irrigation schemes etc.
The interests of white farmers also heavily influenced transport planning (to get their produce to market) and tax and pricing policies. Are there any lessons in this history to assist us to support small and subsistence farmers in our current context? We need to debate these issues. In 2012 the ruling ANC will be celebrating its centenary. Historical accounts indicate that the imminent imposition of the 1913 Land Act that dispossessed the native Africans of their land and livelihoods was the trigger that led to the formation of the South African Native National Congress in 1912.
It is inconceivable that after a century of struggle, and after 17 years of democracy, social relations in the countryside can continue to mirror the values of segregation and apartheid. The broad mission remains to restore land, human dignity and respect to all South Africans.
Concluding Let us remind ourselves of why we are here as a department. Looking at the bigger picture, the Minister has said recently that it is a privilege to be doing what we do. What is land reform and restitution? It is a massive attempt to put right a historical wrong. Our job, as a department, is to restore the land and with it the dignity of people that have been dispossessed and systematically oppressed and exploited over centuries.
In so doing we seek to address a central task of South Africa's national democratic revolution. It is not an exaggeration to say that we are in the frontline of the struggle to transform South African social relations in the countryside and to build a truly non-racial, non-sexist and equitable society. In closing, let me again thank you for inviting me to be here on this important occasion, and let me wish you well for today and in your future endeavours to roll out CRDP in every rural ward. I thank you.
