Beaufort West, Western Cape, delivered by Honourable Minister of Agriculture
and Land Affairs Ms Lulama Xingwana
16 December 2006
Honourable Deputy Minister for DPLG Ms Nomatyala Hangana
Honourable Minister for Agriculture in the Province, Mr Dowry
Chief Land Claims Commissioner, Mr Thozi Gwanya,
Western Cape Land Claims Commissioner, Ms Beverley Jansen
Acting Mayor Karoo District Municipality, Mr Nortjie
Mayor, Mr Michael Motsoane
Deputy Mayor, Mr Leslie Harmse
Municipal Manager, Jaftha Booysen
Osingaye Namhlanje, the Claimants
Members of the various media institutions
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
Halala abantu bakwa Mandlenkosi Halala!
Phambili ngo Restitution, Phambili!
Phambili ngo kubuyiselwa kwa malungelo omhlaba Phambili!
Today we started the day by going to the fields to launch the most important
flagship programmes of Project Gijima, the Ilima Letsema campaign in the
province. Let me extend a special word of appreciation to the leadership of
Essential Oils for making their resources available for the success of the
launch of this campaign. Through this campaign we are saying to the people of
Kwa-Mandlenkosi "Vuk'uzenzele! Group yourselves and pull your resources
together and stand up against poverty! If you can do something about your
situation then stand up and work for your economic freedom. The Government is
here to enable you to realise your dreams."
On the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the founding of the African
National Congress (ANC) in Durban, President Thabo Mbeki made the following
call: "during this year, we must focus on the mobilisation of our people
actually to engage in a process of continuing to be their own liberators, of
occupying the frontline in the popular struggle for the reconstruction and
development of our country." The President urged all South Africans to lend a
hand in a national effort to build better life for all thus inculcating in our
communities, the spirit of working together.
The ethos of Ilima Letsema, is about working together to liberate ourselves
from the oppression of poverty, working together to put food on the table and
provide good education for our children. It is also about working together to
defend our freedom and to build this nation.
The concept of Letsema Ilima has its roots in the African culture of working
together. It was also about the whole "way of African life." Letsema comes from
the time when African people lived in agrarian societies, where the land was
the main source of livelihood, growing of crops and livestock farming were a
major social and economic activity. Each family had a piece of land on which
they lived and could cultivate. During Ilima, members of different families
would move from one family's land to the next, helping one another, sharing
skills and offering technical advice. Letsema was thus a socio-economic growth
strategy that helped our people for their own development. Ilima involves
family, friends and neighbours as well as volunteers.
What was important about Letsema was the spirit in which it was done, the
spirit of togetherness, which I would like to see in this particular
community.
I urge you to use the money that we are giving you as a restitution award in
projects that will generate more income for your families. Learn from the
concept of Ilima, group yourselves together and invest in sustainable projects
that will help you improve your livelihoods. Establish savings clubs for
specific projects such as sewing, candle making, livestock farming, poultry,
etc. Work closely with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) who are able to
empower you on these projects. Tap into the programmes of Government, which are
designed to assist such initiatives, such as the Department of Trade and
Industry (DTI) programme of Co-operative Societies.
Become actively involved in building local economic development, using this
restitution award. The Department of Land Affairs has made a contribution of
R9,6 million towards the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programme
(ISRDP) in the area so you could make use of these opportunities offered by the
Government. The President has designated Beaufort West as an ISRDP node,
precisely because of the high level of poverty in this area. Today we are here
to make a significant dent on that poverty. We are here to declare war on
poverty. You are the soldiers of this nation in that fight against poverty.
For this campaign to succeed it has to have dedicated champions. We need
these champions at the Provincial level; we agreed at the Benoni Lekgotla that
the MECs should be the champions for Ilima-Letsema. I am glad that the MEC is
here today with us to lead this campaign. Minister Dowry, I am entrusting the
success of this campaign to you. The municipalities must also have champions
for this campaign. In the Eastern Cape I have seen the OR Tambo Municipality
facilitate rural people's participation in the very successful production of
maize. They achieved this by having foot soldiers or champions of Ilima, who go
village by village to get people to use the land for agricultural
production.
Through the settlement of this claim, we are bringing closure to yet another
sad chapter in the history of land dispossession for Africans in this country.
To settle this claim, the State is paying out R9,6 million to this community. I
am pleased to note that about 282 female-headed households stand to benefit
from the settlement of this claim. I want to see the women of Mandlenkosi take
a leading role in the implementation and management of livelihood projects. I
am pleased that today we stand here to honour the promise of our constitution
to our people who were disposed of their land rights. We have in our midst
elderly people who have waited long to see this day. I am talking about
oMakhulu Esther Nontozimbi Harmaans; Sarina Simpson; Nosiginqi Mitjie De Bruin;
Ben Riddles; Let us give them a big round of applause! Today we are here to
recognise those who have been patient with our legalistic processes, especially
these elderly people.
To the youth I am making an appeal that you respect elderly people. They
have sacrificed everything to bring you up. They have taught you so many
things. Many are spending their old-age pension so thinly, in order to bring
food to the table. As young people you still have the energy, why don't you use
that energy to work in the gardens to produce food? Why don't you use your
energy to protect and provide for your elderly people?
Never believe the impression created that agriculture is only for a
privileged few, and blacks must remain only as consumers. Vehemently reject the
notion of going from the informal settlements in search for jobs in the cities.
Create your own jobs in these projects that we have suggested to you. Stand up
and use the available land to produce your own food.
This year marks the twelfth year of South Africa's democracy and eleven
years since the inception of the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights.
Today is the Day of Reconciliation. One of the aims of restitution is
reconciliation. It is to ensure that the fighting parties, the landowners and
the landless, the black and the white, the coloured and the black, the law
abiders and the criminals, the fighting political parties. The message today is
this; "put all those differences aside and focus on building this rainbow
nation." The Bible warns us to stay away from endless fighting; it says
"Niyagqibana niginyana nje." In Galatians 5 verse 15 it says "If you keep on
biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will destroy each other."
In line with the spirit of the Gijima campaign, we are set on meeting our
target of settling all land claims by the end of March 2008. We are aware that
there is still a lot to do, and time is not on our side. We are aware that the
people have been waiting for too long, and that the stakes are high but we dare
not fail our people.
Rome was not built in one day. The Government is committed to assisting you.
Work together with the local Government structures to eradicate poverty in your
area. I want to come back one day and see people from this community doing well
and selling their products in the main stream markets.
Phambili NgeLima Phambili!!!
Phantsi ngobuvila Phantsi!!
Phambili NgeLima Phambili!!!
Amandla!!
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs
16 December 2006
