Mr Speaker
Honourable Ministers and Deputy Ministers
Honourable members
MECs of Rural Development from various provinces
Traditional leaders
Representatives of organised agriculture
Private sector partners
Senior government officials
Ladies and gentlemen
Let me join the Minister in welcoming all our stakeholders, friends, comrades, colleagues from different sectors who found it necessary to set aside other important engagements to come and join us on our budget vote. Your presence here today is highly appreciated and adds inspiration to our humble efforts.
Mr Speaker the work of this department started just a little over 10 months ago on 10 May 2009 when the newly inaugurated President Jacob Zuma announced to the country his cabinet. Amongst the new ministries announced was that of Rural Development and Land Reform. In making this announcement the president was taking the first decisive step to fulfil a desire expressed by delegates at the historic 52nd National Conference of the African National Congress (ANC) held in Polokwane in December 2007.
The delegates unanimously passed a resolution spelling out what needed to be done to transform South Africa’s rural areas.
The resolution amongst others noted that:
* “Colonialism and apartheid were rooted in the dispossession of the African people of their land, the destruction of African farming and the super-exploitation of wage labourers, including farm workers and their families. Poverty, inequality and joblessness are a consequence of centuries of underdevelopment and exploitation consciously perpetrated on the majority of the population, which had its most destructive and enduring impacts on rural South Africa. Consequently, the structural faults that characterised the apartheid rural economy remain with us today.
Conference further noted that:
* “The constitution enjoins the state to take action to enable citizens to gain access to land on an equitable basis, to ensure security of tenure for people and communities and to realise the restitution of land rights for those dispossessed after 1913.
And believing that:
* Rural development is a critical pillar of our struggle against unemployment, poverty and inequality.
* A more equitable distribution of land is necessary both to undo the injustices of history as well as to ensure higher productivity, shared growth, employment and sustainable livelihoods.
Therefore resolved amongst others to:
* Embark on an integrated programme of rural development, land reform and agrarian change.
* Build stronger state capacity and devote greater resources to challenges of rural development, land reform and agrarian change.
In particular to create an over-arching authority with resources and authority to drive and coordinate an integrated programme of rural development, land reform and agrarian change.
* Ensure that the state regulates the land market effectively with a view to promoting the goals of rural development and agrarian change. To this end the management and control of state land must be consolidated under one roof.
* Accelerate the rollout of rural infrastructure, particularly roads but also other services including potable water, electricity and irrigation and ensuring in particular that the former Bantustan areas are properly provisioned with an infrastructure base for economic and social development.
* Improve the coordination and synergy between departments and all levels of government to ensure an integrated approach to land reform and rural development.
Mr Speaker and honourable members, it is therefore clear that when the President announced the establishment of this new ministry and expansion of the mandate of the former Land Affairs Department our work was cut out for us by the ANC Polokwane conference. This also clearly dispels the myth that the Polokwane conference was only about change of leadership without substantive attention to policy direction.
In pursuance of the objectives of this resolution the ANC NEC included rural development and food security as one of the five top priorities in the 2009 Election Manifesto.
The journey of the last 10 months
Immediately after our swearing in on 11 May 2009 we started working with our top management to unpack the mandate and put flesh to the aspirations entailed in the resolutions and the manifesto.
In a few weeks and months we were able to conceptualise the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme with a clear vision, mission and anchor strategy. It is this clarity of purpose which has enabled us to input into the new outcome-based approach developed by the Presidency.
The decision to embark on a pilot project at Muyexe village in Limpopo a week after our appointment provided an invaluable avenue to match theory with practice. This enabled us to keep refining the model as we were getting ready to roll into other pilot sites in seven more provinces. I wish to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to our management and staff for their enthusiastic embrace and participation in the engineering and implementation of the new vision.
The current pilots in eight provinces provide a valuable mix of experiences each with its own unique challenges and opportunities from Muyexe in Limpopo, Riemvasmaak in Northern Cape, Mkhondo in Mpumalanga, Diyatalawa/Makgolokwe in Free State, Disake/Mokgalwaneng/Matlametlong in North West, Mhlontlo in Eastern Cape, Msinga/Sekame in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) to Dyselsdorp in Western Cape. These projects vary from tribal villages, former trust land, state farms and restituted farms. The experiences from these projects will certainly make us to be better prepared for a more extensive rollout.
The Comprehensive Rural Development Programme (CRDP) speaks to key tenets of the Polokwane resolution and the ANC election Manifesto that rural development should speak to poverty eradication, provision of employment opportunities and reduction of inequality and support for sustainable livelihoods.
CRDP also speaks to the rollout of rural infrastructure, particularly roads, potable water, electricity and irrigation as envisaged in Polokwane.
CRDP also speaks fundamentally to the issue of improved coordination and synergy between departments and all levels of government as pronounced in the resolution.
All the CRDP implementation projects, be it social facilitation, community profiling, laying out of economic infrastructure such as roads, water, electricity or social infrastructure and services such as schools, clinics, multipurpose centres, information and communications technology (ICT), Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres etc provide major opportunities to learn skills which can result in medium to long term jobs or the ability to start own businesses.
In terms of resourcing CRDP we have gone a long way in getting a dedicated budget allocation to rural development, starting with the Mid Term Budget Policy Statement in October 2009 and now it is part of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) from 2010/11 to 2013/14. While the current allocation is a far cry from what this mandate entails it is a good beginning. We should also bear in mind that our department is not expected to be a full implementer of all rural development projects. We see ourselves as initiators, catalysts, facilitators and coordinators.
We have also gone a long way in restructuring the department to align its programmes and organogram to the new mandate. Also of ongoing necessity is the reorientation of the mind set of staff, some of whom for more than 15 years have been used to being either Land Affairs or Land Claims Commission to the now Rural Development and Land Reform focus.
We are now a long way into creating one department with different branches focusing on different responsibilities but with one vision, mission, strategy and under one leadership.
We need to take this opportunity to thank various stakeholders inside and outside government in all its three spheres who have enthusiastically embraced the new vision. We cannot claim that government coordination is at its perfect best but commitment is there, thanks to the unwavering support of our President.
All Premiers, MECs, Mayors, Councillors and officials we have worked with have displayed utmost commitment. Outside of government amongst parastatals, institutions of higher learning, agricultural organisations and private business in general we have also been met with tons of enthusiasm. Our challenge is to turn all this support into tangible visible deliverables.
Challenge of Land Reform
The land reform programme has over the last ten months been a serious learning curve and indeed a major challenge. First of all in the first few days of our appointment we were confronted with the reality that the Land Restitution budget was exhausted in the first month due to a pile up of finalised claims just awaiting payment. Making matters worse was that the fact that one of the biggest if not the biggest claim ever of R600 million was settled in the current financial year.
It became evident also that while 95%of the claims had been settle, the remaining 5% were mostly very complex and many of them potentially very expensive. Even more challenging was the fact that up to 50% of long settled claims on previously productive and economically viable farms had collapsed. Many claims which had been settled in terms of research of validity could not be finalised due to financial constraints while others which had been finalised could not be supported with development grants.
On the proactive land reform programme as well, it became evident that while a lot of progress had been made in terms of transferring land to previously landless black people we remained with huge challenges with many allocated farms either not fully productive or not productive at all.
As already indicated the land reform programme including restitution has now been integrated into the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme (CRDP) with a major focus being to make sure that land allocated for a specific purpose with a major focus on food production is put to full utilisation. We have reached a conclusion that it is better to chase quality utilisation than quantity acquisition. This is a hard choice which is not without consequences.
Challenges going forward
* Comprehensive Rural Development Programme
The key challenge with the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme (CRDP) is how to move speedily from the mode of piloting to that of massified rollout. The experience of pilots is proving very useful in terms of perfecting the conceptual framework enriched by practical experience but it does look like we are going to have to fast track the translation of the experience of pilots to that of massive rollout at a faster pace than initially envisaged, if we are to address the high expectation of the rural electorate who have been waiting for more improved quality of life, especially related to ability to earn a living either through employment or enterprise opportunities rather than receiving social grants.
* Land reform
The challenges of land reform have already been elaborated on in a great deal. It is quite clear that the vast majority of landless black majority, amongst them 2,8 million living on commercial farmers with no security of tenure cannot wait for many more years for the state to provide security of tenure for them.
We need to find solutions to outstanding complicated land claims, settle speedily those who are less complicated and lastly make sure that all productive farms that are acquired by the state can be put to good use. I believe that the Green Paper process which the Minister has announced will go a long way in opening a discussion amongst all South Africans which must confront very difficult and often uncomfortable question of speeding up access to land for the development of our rural people.
In conclusion Mr Speaker, I believe we are on the right track towards the fulfilment of the dreams of millions of rural South Africans. We have the vision, the enthusiasm, the drive and support of thousands of South Africans from all walks of life. What we do not have in abundance is lots of time and resources. In this year of “Working together to speed up effective service to the people,” we must work faster and smarter as directed by the President.
Thank you
Issued by: Department of Rural Development and Land Reform
24 March 2010
Source: Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (http://www.ruraldevelopment.gov.za)
