It is unfortunate that the shadow Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Ms Annette Steyn of the Democratic Alliance has elected to run to the media about her intention to write a parliamentary question.
One wonders why she didn’t just write the letter and send it through the proper channels. Better yet, the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Ms Tina Joemat-Pettersson has an open door policy. Why did she not simply request a meeting or speak to the Minister at the event.
This is in response to Ms Steyn’s comments about the department’s recent Masibambisane Rural Development Initiative (MRDI) that was held in Eastern Cape on Sunday, 22 July.
In a press statement she issued on 25 July 2012 on http://www.allafrica.com/ she stated; “there is not a shred of evidence to suggest that this initiative is genuinely empowering rural people in a sustainable way. From what I have observed, this is simply a hand-out scheme used by President Zuma to curry favour in the province where he is most embattled.”
Ms Steyn has completely missed the point of Masibambisane despite being afforded an opportunity to witness it last Sunday, on invitation.
Masibambisane is a platform where rural communities invite the government and the private sector to join hands with them as they plot a path out of poverty and underdevelopment. The initiative has identified agriculture as the driving force for stimulating the development of rural communities.
As one of the partners in this initiative, government is determined to play its role in providing the necessary support that will ensure that the communities realise their objectives of pulling themselves out of the poverty that the apartheid policies of the past condemned them to.
Such support comes in the form of the provision of mechanisation services and inputs that are meant to assist communities to bring lands that have been lying fallow back to production. In short, Masibambisane is about ensuring food security to rural communities through a holistic approach.
In his speech at Ncorha, the Chairman of Masibambisane and the President of the Republic of South Africa Mr Jacob Zuma said, this was not a hand-out but was an opportunity for communities to stop depending on government grants for an income, and even if they did receive a grant, that this does not become their sole source of income. Ms Steyn would have also noticed that on the previous day, the Eastern Cape’s MEC of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform Ms Zoleka Capa invited the Minister to the unveiling of the province’s mechanisation plan to utilise dormant land.
We cannot escape the legacy of apartheid in rural areas, nor can we deny the fact that rural households are the hardest hit by poverty and malnutrition. Using these interventions for political gain, as Ms Steyn is doing, will gain her no favour among the millions who sit without hope.
For more information contact:
Palesa Mokomele, Spokesperson for Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Tel: 012 319 7876, Pretoria
Fax: 012 319 6681, Pretoria
Tel: 021 467 4502, Cape Town
Fax: 021 465 6550, Cape Town
Cell: 082 904 1908
E-mail: PalesaM@daff.gov.za
Steyn demonstrates lack of basic understanding of food security
