Budget Vote 2006/07 presented by MEC Khabisi Mosunkutu
6 June 2006
Honourable Speaker: Comrade Mdakane
Deputy Speaker
Premier Shilowa
Members of the Executive Council
Members of the Provincial Legislature
Friends and colleagues
Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
Introduction
I feel privileged to again be granted space and time to present to this
august body a report on how the budget entrusted to the Department of
Agriculture, Conservation and Environment will be utilised in pursuance of the
objectives and obligations imposed on us by the constitution of the Republic
and the GPG priorities.
I feel particularly honoured to have this opportunity at a time when only 28
days ago, on the 8th May 2006, the people of our country came together to
celebrate the 10th year of the adoption of our Country's constitution - the
supreme law of the land.
It is this constitution that prescribes what each one of us, Government
leaders in particular, must and must not do, can and cannot do.
In the realm of ordinary citizens, it may be said that personal ambition and
creativity are the key driving forces that propel one to greater heights. In
Government, especially for leaders where every working moment impacts on the
well-being of the citizenry, our country's constitutional prescriptions become
the key drivers. This, the constitution, stands firmly as the pillar for all
the dynamic forces of development and the improvement of the lives of our
fellow countrymen. As leaders in Government, we are but obliged to harness
these forces for purposes of ensuring that the social, political and economic
lives of our people are transformed for the better.
Amongst the constitutional prescriptions that dictate what we must do in my
Department is Clause 27 (1) (b) in the Bill of Rights. This particular clause
enjoins us to do our best to ensure that everyone has access to sufficient food
and water. Clear in our minds of what this clause and our own five-year
strategic priorities entail, we have developed and are implementing a strategy
with which we seek to fight poverty and create jobs whilst also enabling faster
economic growth.
Enabling faster economic growth and job creation
Frantz Fanon, an author, writing in 'the wretched of the earthâ observed
that 'the national economy of the period of independencies not set on a new
footing. It is still concerned with the groundnut harvest, with the cocoa crop
and the olive yield. In the same way there is no change in the marketing of
basic products, and not a single industry is set up in the country. We go on
sending out raw materials; we go on being Europe's small farmers who specialise
in unfinished products'.
In the same profound analysis and in what characterises the majority of our
current landowners, Frantz Fanon observed that âThere will be no modernisation
of agriculture, no planning for development, and no initiative; for initiative
throws these people into a panic since it implies risk, and completely upsets
the hesitant, prudent, landed bourgeoisie, which gradually slips more
And more into the lines lay down by colonialism'.
Adequately motivated and well prepared to learn from other revolutions,
including those that Frantz Fanon studied, my Department is refusing to be
paralysed and to lack initiative. Equally eager to realise the obligations
imposed on us by clause 27 (1) (b), we formulated and are now implementing the
Gauteng Agricultural Development Strategy (GADS). The implementation of this
strategy started in April 2006.
Contrary to the development of the agricultural sector in countries observed
by Fanon, our initiative, the GADS, seeks to develop agro-processing
industries, agricultural biotechnology and to increase production of niche
market agricultural products.
These niche market agricultural products will be farmed along identified
corridors within our province and they are earmarked for the local as well as
export markets.
The biotechnology strategy, which is also part of the broad GADS, will come
into effect towards the latter part of the second half of this financial year
whilst the implementation plan and the agro-processing strategy should both be
completed by September2006. As hinted earlier, our constitutional obligations
are not unclear and uncertain. Through our strategic initiatives, we certainly
will not be 'Europe's small farmers who specialise in unfinished products' to
borrow from the words of Fanon. We also shall, in the process, increase our
capacity to deliver on the mandate to give all our people access to sufficient
food, as demanded by clause 27 of our Bill of Rights.
A total of R48 m has been allocated by Treasury for the GADS strategy, with
R14 m being for 2006, R16 m and another R18 m for subsequent years to the
financial year ending in 2009.
An additional R4.7 m has been set aside for implementing Hydroponics Farming
Projects whilst an amount of R3 m has been set-aside for the enhancement of our
medicinal plant projects.
The Hydroponics and tunnel farming projects and the medicinal plant
initiatives will also contribute towards fighting poverty and to job creation.
These projects are undertaken in collaboration with the Agricultural Research
Council in support of the GADS while the Department provides the funding for
the projects. The Hydroponics and tunnel farming incubator project will be
initiated during August 2006 whilst the medicinal plant incubator project will
start in October 2006.
A total of fifty (50) Black-owned farms in Elandsfontein, south of
Johannesburg, will also enormously contribute to the realisation of the vision
of our agricultural development strategy. Of the 50 farms, 24 already are
engaged in productive agricultural activities. We have four farmers in the area
whose development has-been held back partly because they lack the security
required by financial institutions in order to grant financial help.
Twenty-two of the fifty farms are running the risk of continuing lying
under-utilised, if not completely unused for agricultural purposes. However,
with the necessary and urgent co-operation from the Department of Public
Transport, Roads and Works with regard to speeding up the issuance of title
deeds, we should be able to unleash the full potential of these farms. In this
regard, it would be advisable that all agricultural projects that may be
contemplated for state-owned land, our Department should directly be engaged
for such initiative. We, after all, are the mandated Department in the
province.
By design, the GADS also aim at bridging the gap between the first and the
second socio-economic reality of our agricultural sector. Ten days from today,
we shall be celebrating the 30thAnniversary of 1976 students' revolt against
Afrikaans. We all know that the form that the 1976 uprising assumed was that of
rejecting Afrikaans as a medium of learning in our schools. We however
all
Know, I believe, that the content of this students' action was indeed,
rejection of the colonialism-of-a-special-type system of government.
As a tribute to the youth of our country and as a measure calculated at
meeting their social and economic developmental needs, the majority of projects
within our GADS have, as important beneficiaries, the youth of our
province.
We are also targeting our youth specifically, through an agricultural
mentorship/learnership programme, where youth earmarked for land reform
projects will be mentored by commercial farmers. This will occur on a
rotational basis for a period of a year.
As part of GADS, we shall also implement our integrated food security
strategy, starting from August 2006.
Through this strategy, we aim to improve, at least by 30% during the
financial year under discussion, co-ordination between all food security role
players in the province. Through the strategy, we will introduce 32 community
food production units, benefiting 640households. At a cost of R2.5 m. 9 000
pre-selected households will also be assisted to establish backyard food
gardens at a cost of R3.5 m.
Together with the Gauteng Provincial Land Reform Office (GPLRO), we are
working at ensuring that, at least, 15% ownership of agricultural assets in the
province belong to disadvantaged communities and that 30% of emerging farmers
benefit from agricultural grants and credit schemes, during the financial year
under discussion. We also aim to benefit, through the Comprehensive
Agricultural Support Programme (CASP), 100 farmers at a cost of R6.8m. We
further are targeting to benefit 130 farmers through the Land Redistribution
for Agricultural Development (LRAD), at a cost of R1.7 m, also during the
financial year under review.
Working jointly with the Gauteng Enterprise Propeller (GEP), we also are
developing business plans for agricultural co-operatives and for Small, Medium
and Macro Enterprises (SMMEs). This project will also further contribute to the
Accelerated and Shared Development Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA) and the
empowerment of women and the youth in particular.
Naturally, efforts aimed at attaining the directives contained in clause 27
(1) (b) of our constitution are not the only impetus that keeps us focused.
Clause 24 of the Bill of Rights provides another stimulus that focuses our
collective energy.
This clause grants our people a right to an environment that is not harmful
to their health or well-being and compels us to protect this environment for
the present generation and for the future generation. It motivates us to seek
to build safe, secure and sustainable communities.
Fighting poverty and building safe, secure and sustainable communities
Allow me, Comrade Speaker, to first remind this House that, as from
yesterday, we all should be observing the International Environment Week. In
our country, the week is observed this year under the theme 'An age of hope in
a protected environment'.
Even as we partake in the various activities aimed at further promoting
awareness of the critical importance of a healthy environment, let us all
ensure that we do nothing that will further destroy our environment. Let us all
have the greatness to protect our biodiversity for the future generations.
In pursuance of our strategic objective of building safe, secure and
sustainable communities, I am happy to announce that the development of a
concrete and effective Gauteng Strategy for Sustainable Development (GSSD) is
on course.
Appropriate to the essence of what the Constitution Hill symbolises, a
gathering of relevant stakeholders was held, on 18 May 2006, at this historic
monument the Constitution Hill, in Braamfontein.
Meeting at this venue, we discussed how our developmental and constructional
initiatives should not degrade the environment and lead to, among others, the
depletion of water resources, natural food resources and the destruction of
other ecosystems that are necessary for life itself.
Delegates attending the meeting unanimously confirmed their loyalty to
clause 24 of our constitution. We anticipate finalising the development of this
strategy, at a cost of R1.5 m, during August/September 2006. We should note
that further development and the implementation of this strategy relies not
only on Provincial Government Departments but also Local Municipalities.
This sphere of government will continuously be engaged on this issue
through, among others, the existing MEC/MMC forum.
The new Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Regulations were promulgated by
Minister van Schalkwyk on 21 April 2006 and will come into effect on the 1st
July 2006. In anticipation my Department initiated two projects in 2005 which
are due for completion in time for the implementation date. These projects deal
with supplementation and implementation of the new regulations and
re-engineering of business processes within relevant internal branches.
Friends and colleagues, EIA processes are a developmental tool at the
disposal of Government contrary to inane views held by some anarchist elements
within the construction industry and by some shady consultants.
True to the real intent of the EIA processes, the new EIA regulations
specify time frames for processing of EIA applications. The same regulations
also allow us to develop processes specific to
Our own province.
This initiative has allowed my Department to be prepared for the stipulated
implementation date. Stakeholder workshops are also being conducted to explain
the regulations and the new processes.
One such is scheduled for 8 June and another will coincide with my annual
open day on EIAs which is scheduled for 29 June.
As part of promoting sustainable economic development, we prepared what we
call The Magaliesmoot Guidelines for Sustainable Mining. A strategy for
handling brickwork open-air stack kilns has also been completed. Both these
strategies will enable our environmental officers and mining houses to
implement best practices and to minimise environmental impacts. Similar
guidelines for the Metsweding region are being developed and it is anticipated
that these will be completed and implemented during the current financial
year.
Comrade Speaker, guidelines for sustainable rehabilitation of Tailings Dam,
with a particular emphasis on attaining mine closure, is also being developed.
This is aimed at reducing dust impacts on communities in the vicinity of
Tailings dam.
One of the serious challenges to our quest to build safe, secure,
sustainable, healthy and productive communities emanate from the harmful gases
that pollute the air that we breath, our soil and water.
In contributing to the strategic objectives that I've just alluded to, we
commissioned seven (7) Air Quality Monitoring Stations during the 2005/2006
financial year. These are located in Sedibeng, Ekurhuleni, Tshwane and the West
Rand, among other areas.
We have budgeted, for the current financial year, R7 million for the
stations and R1,4 m for establishing connectivity to centralised data system,
to be located within the Department and/or conducting due diligence on private
monitoring stations to expand the monitoring network.
In further contributing towards building safe, secure and sustainable
communities, we shall also rely on our Environmental Management Inspectors
(EMIs), the so-called Green Scorpions.
An amount of R7 m for the 2006/07 financial year has been set aside to
designate, train and equip 20 EMIs whose task will be to undertake
environmental compliance and enforcement activities. The first batch of EMIs
will officially be announced on 10 July 2006 and they should immediately start
delivering on their mandates. The designation of these EMIs should communicate
quite a simple message to devious developers, especially considering the powers
vested upon the EMIs, and the message -plundering the environment is simply
tantamount to dicing away your assets.
Another environmental challenge that confronts our province relates to waste
of animal origin. The amount of waste produced by abattoirs, feedlots and
commercial farms exceeds 120 tons per month. This poses environmental hazards
that, if not well managed, may detrimentally affect the health of our
communities. With the view to combat this threat, we are in the process of
producing guideline manual for abattoir waste management. To be completed
during the financial year under review, the production of the manual will cost
us R300 000.
Our veterinary branch also makes a significant contribution to the
province's strategic objective of enabling faster economic growth and job
creation. Veterinarians services in Gauteng are faced with the unique challenge
of having to do final certification forgive animals and animal products, even
those from other provinces, for the export market. My Department is responsible
for this final certification. Veterinarians who work in this area in Gauteng
are required to have a very high level of knowledge of export matters in order
to ensure that the export products fulfil all the importing country's
requirements.
Part of our objectives for this financial year is to ensure that all the
relevant Veterinarians are trained and supplied with the resources necessary to
enable them to carry out this mammoth task.
Working jointly with the Gauteng Shared Services Centre (GSSC), we also are
developing automation of the Veterinary Health Certification (VHC) project.
This will be part of the Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) portal.
It will enable our services to be accessible online, hence allowing the
public to make applications for certification online. It will also contain a
database of export related information which will be used, where necessary, by
the exporting communities. The product also falls in line with Batho Pele
principles in that it seeks to provide information to the public.
The implementation of an Environmental Management Program (EMP) for each
abattoir will enhance the control over abattoir waste. Alternative safe methods
of dealing with waste from animal origin are also being investigated by our
project team. We already are exploring composting and perm culture as an
alternative for rural abattoirs and feedlots as part of a bigger strategy to
aimed at managing abattoir waste.
It is a matter of common course that the quest to realise our constitutional
obligations has necessitated the promulgation of number of enabling acts.
Enabling acts that further define outworking life in the Department include the
Meat Safety Act, the Livestock Improvement Act and the Animal Diseases Act,
amongst others.
The implementation of these acts, unsurprisingly, coincides with our
Provincial Strategic objective of working to develop healthy, skilled and
productive people.
Developing healthy, skilled and productive people
The realisation of this strategic objective entails, in the case of our
Department, facilitation of the supply of wholesome and healthy food of animal
origin to the public, the promotion of household food security with regards to
animal products and the promotion and protection of animal health to combat the
detrimental consequences of contagious diseases to persons and animals. This we
do through the development and implementation of an Integrated Provincial
Management System for Animal Health Services, among others.
Through the integrated provincial management system, we have successfully
prevented outbreaks of animal and zoonotic diseases. Our animal health services
components also deal with improvement of the efficiency of animal production
systems and the promotion of best animal husbandry practice amongst emerging
livestock farmers.
In June 2006, collaborating with the Department of Local Government, we
established a Joint Operations Centre (JOC) to specifically combat animal
disease epidemics.
Also of critical importance in relation to our quest to develop healthy,
skilled and productive communities is our application for the ISO 17020
accreditation by the South African National Accreditation Service (SANAS), an
independent inspection body. The Gauteng veterinary services directorate is the
first in the country to undertake this internationally recognised accreditation
process. The accreditations will, when successful, result in international
recognition of the high abattoir and meat inspection services standard that the
Gauteng Government guarantees for its citizens.
This accreditation is also essential for international trade as it seeks to
safeguard international trade in beef, pork, mutton and poultry meats. An
amount of R100 000 has been budgeted for this ISO 17020 accreditation
process.
In promoting safe and wholesome meat and meat products, the Department
initiated, during 2003, an incentive for abattoir operators to subscribe and
operate according to certain acceptable standards. During the outgoing
financial year, 55% of our abattoirs were voluntarily rated according to these
standards. The rate abattoirs are responsible for 88% of meat produced in the
province. At a cost of R493 000 we plan to rate at least 66% of all Provincial
abattoirs by end of this financial year.
For purposes of developing and effectively implementing a bio-security
strategy, we introduced, during April 2006, a bio-security sub-programme within
our Veterinary Branch. We expect that the bio-security strategy will be
operational in the latter part of this financial year.
The introduction of this strategy will be immensely beneficial especially in
relation to maintaining an internationally acceptable zoo-sanitary status. Such
a status allows our international trade in animals and animal products to
continue uninterrupted. The strategy will also protect our livestock industry
from losses that can result from disease outbreaks, which can also lead to loss
of livelihood and employment in the agricultural sector.
One major challenge in the abattoir industry that still remains elusive is
the de-radicalisation of the sector. We, however, cannot fold our arms and do
nothing about this intransigency. We shall continue addressing the challenge
through, among other enabling tools, the Agri-BBBEE framework.
Our contribution to the strategic objective of developing healthy, skilled
and productive people also focuses on our internal human resources.
With regards to the issue of scarce skills, we have completed our own
analysis and have submitted a report to the relevant national Department, as a
contribution to the skills revolution that Deputy President Phumzile
Mlambo-Ngcuka alluded to when unveiling the Accelerated and Shared Growth
Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA).
The Office of the Premier set a target of 8% complement of staff as a GPG
target for learnerships/internships. My Department has already exceeded this
target and we are running at 11.8%. We have revised our own internship target
and are now aiming at achieving14 % internship enlistment during the financial
year under review.
Clearly understanding that the emancipation of women is also fundamental
condition that has to be realised before we truly can be a nation in the true
sense of the word, our programmes are, consciously, tilted towards addressing
gender imbalance. It is this biasness that contributes to our favourable gender
profile, including in senior management ranks.
Under the leadership of our Transformation Branch, this predisposition will
continue into the 2006/07 financial year and we will continue to assess key
departmental projects and set targets to ensure comprehensive and holistic
gender main-streaming.
Also understanding the vulnerability of the youth in general, our
Transformation Branch will also sharply focus on agriculture development and
learnership programmes in order to enhance the participation of youth and women
in particular, in the agricultural sector. The programme will focus on hands-on
technical training, re-skilling and entrepreneurial development of unemployed
agricultural graduates, thus contributing to job creation and poverty
alleviation in the province. An amount of R 500 00 has been budgeted for this
specific purpose.
Colleagues, we still have challenges in relation to ensuring that the human
rights that most of us already enjoy are also sufficiently and materially
extended to people with disabilities. The challenges we confront in this regard
include environmental and ergonomic challenges. With this in mind, we shall,
during the year under review, conduct audits in the mentioned areas to ensure
accommodation of people with disabilities in our workplace.
A learnership for people with disabilities will also be enhanced in order to
provide employment and skills development opportunities for this section of our
community. As a matter of fact, we already have enrolled, within my Department,
10 people with disabilities. Some of them are deployed in our Registry section,
managing important documents for the Department.
Talking about the joys and trepidations of his internship in this section,
Mr Sipho Vilakazi quipped 'The environment in the Department is wonderful. I
dread to think what will happen at the expiry of my internship in eight months
time. Will I have to join another institution and start afresh the experience
of being recognised as a fellow human being?'
In a separate discussion with Ms Geraldine van der Westhuizen, a supervisor
in the same section, she made this simple but profound observation about people
with disabilities, 'We were scared earlier due to wrong perceptions. But these
guys have turned out to be wonderful people to work with.'
Like other Departments and millions of people across the globe, we also
confront challenges brought about by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Through our
Transformation Branch, we also are doing our best to combat the scourge.
We have set aside, for this financial year, an amount of R1 m for various
programmes related to combating this blight.
Colleagues, sports and games in general contribute to the consolidation of
societies and to building healthy, skilled and productive communities. It is
for this reason that we have taken a decision to create a special process that
will handle all Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) processes linked to the
2010 FIFA Games.
This internal FIFA World Cup Committee has already speeded-up the EIA
processes related to the FNB Stadium and the FIFA Head Office. The major
challenge that we may encounter in relation to this exciting development, is
the tardiness by developers to submit all relevant documentation on time.
Also linked, at least by the public in general, to the 2010 Games, is the
Gautrain project. Convinced of the social and economic benefits of this
project, we are prioritising all EIA related processes that fall within our
jurisdiction. The latest EIA approvals were granted in March 2006.
In relation to these two projects, I strongly recommend that all
role-players should ensure speedy responses to all the legal and policy
requirements so that we too can more effectively and efficiently contribute to
the success of the projects.
I earlier suggested that sports and games in general also contribute to the
consolidation of societies. Naturally, we know from our theory of development
that the concept of a 'nation' and nation building is quite a complex matter
that cannot be resolved only through sports and games. In a country that still
has to share in the same broad culture, economy and sense of patriotism, the
tasks certainly become more complex and entail a number of initiatives.
Understanding that the process of deepening democracy, building a nation and
realising the constitutional rights of all our peoples a complex process and
that it is cumulative, we also fairly contribute to this noble objective.
Deepening democracy, nation building and realising the constitutional rights
of our citizens
My Department exercises a mandate over our nature reserves and to some
extent over the heritage sites, including over Maropeng -the Cradle of
Humankind. We also have a mandate over our five nature reserves. To manage
these reserves in a manner that also effectively contributes to nation
building, we decided to commercialise the management of the reserves. In this
process, we also had to issue a tender for the interim management of the sites.
The tender was issued in January 2006.
Under effective dedicated management, these reserves will cater specifically
for teaching and research institutions, educational activities, adventure
activities and also benefit local communities. We expect that this process will
ensure affordable access and more rapid and effective promotion of
environmental issues.
Conclusion
This budget vote input merely gives a synopsis of detailed and programmatic
outputs that the Department has set for itself for the financial year under
discussion. I am confident that the men and women employed in the Department
will do their all to ensure successful delivery on all targets that we have set
for ourselves and I wish to thank them in advance for the efforts.
I also wish to commend the Head of Department: Dr. Steven Cornelius, who has
immensely contributed to the transformation of the Department - a
transformation process that is equipping the Department to be better able to
effectively and efficiently discharge on its legislative and policy
mandates.
Present in the public gallery of this House we have, among others, close and
important stakeholders of our Department -Executive Mayors, Ward Councillors,
representatives of the agricultural fraternity and people from environmental
organisations, including winners of our Bontle ke Botho project. We also have
people from Johannesburg City Parks, people from animal welfare organisations
and the Johannesburg Zoo. Rand Water is also represented as well as
representatives of non-governmental organisations. I wish to acknowledge their
presence and commit to further enhance our partnership.
Allow me, in conclusion, to remind us of the profound words attributed to Mr
Richard St. Baker. This insightful environmentalist, known in Kenya as father
of trees or baba wamiti, who is said to have observed that 'our generation may
either be the last to exist or the first to have the vision, the daring and the
greatness to play no part in destroying the environmentâ. Let us do our all to
ensure that we do nothing that will contribute to the destruction of our
biodiversity - and let us give our best towards delivering on our people's
quest of a better life whilst also ensuring that we do nothing that will
compromise a better tomorrow for the generation yet to be born.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Environment, Gauteng
Provincial Government
6 June 2006
Source: SAPA
