Chairperson, the hon the Minister for Agriculture and Land Affairs, the Deputy Minister, hon members of the NCOP, special delegates from various provinces, ladies and gentlemen, although I am not a capitalist nor aspiring to become one, Adam Smith tells us the following, and I quote:
What improves the circumstances of the greater part can never be regarded as an inconvenience to the whole. No society can surely be flourishing and happy of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable.
When I look around me I see that it is there, the human misery that afflicts my people, our people, the agony of hunger etched on our children's faces, the look in the eyes of young people, the despair of time and the bewilderment of people cast aside. All of these things are clearly a reality to our people. All of these afflictions are consequences of the racial prejudice and discrimination that our people must contend with painfully on a day-to-day basis. All of these things are confirmed by a villager in one of the most remote areas, in Badplaas in Mpumalanga, when he observes that, and I quote: ``Land is a source of security. Access to land must lead to a better life.''
Victims of past draconian laws which created serious problems of landlessness are continuously watching with keen interest the response of their elected public representatives with relation to land restitution and the restoration of land to its rightful owners.
Our ongoing responsibility to improve the quality of the collective life of our people compels us to find innovative and concrete ways by which we can turn the miserable conditions into golden opportunities for the future. This House therefore must note the gargantuan strides made by the hon the Minister and her department to expedite, or rather accelerate, the process of land restitution throughout the length and breadth of South Africa. Equally pleasing is the approach by the hon the Minister and her department to create a single authority and accountability for the department and the Commission for Land Restitution. This integration, we believe, will inevitably eliminate the complex and frustrating administrative processes that in the past defeated the purpose for which land restitution and restoration was created.
We are confident that these processes will now fast-track and radically change the lives of our people in communities such as Doornkop, Kaalfontein, Inkbos, Komatipoort, Kaapsehoop in Nelspruit and Mgendeni in Barberton. These are all areas in Mpumalanga.
The recent floods that swept through many parts of Mpumalanga have undoubtedly created immense agony which, to this very day, is still reverberating in every corner of the province, further exacerbating our problems. We must therefore, through this august House, engage proactively with the hon the Minister to find innovative solutions to the problems brought about by the disaster in our province. Likewise, we should begin to seriously uplift black emerging small farmers who were hardest hit by the floods to prepare them for their gradual yet systematic entry into the formal commercial farming sector, through the provision of financial assistance, the marketing of their products and the creation of a market infrastructure to facilitate the market access of such isolated farmers.
The promotion of black and young entrants into agriculture, particularly women, should lead to the development of successful small and medium-sized agricultural enterprises in Mpumalanga. This must further contribute to enhancing income from and job opportunities through the co-ordinated and systematic use of state agricultural land. In this way we shall be sending a ray of hope to ordinary prospective black farmers in the far-flung areas of the Nkomaas region and areas such as Driekoppies and Kamhluhla. Then we can boldly and unequivocally declare that we have indeed delivered and bettered the lives of our people through none other than the glorious progressive army of our people, the ANC.
The term of office for regional claims commissioners expires in June of this year. In Mpumalanga we are worried about the pace of delivery in the area of land restitution. It is our well-considered view that the appointment of people rooted in our communities, who know and have a clearer understanding of the sufferings of our people, particularly in rural communities, should be expedited to ensure the fast-tracking of the land restitution process in our province. We will monitor this process to ensure that our people are not taken for a ride this time around. Accordingly, we wish the present incumbent in the post well in her future endeavours.
Equally worrying is the hypocrisy of certain sections of the white media and right-wing politicians and parties such as the DP, who continuously remind us, and the hon the President, of the situation in countries such as Zimbabwe. However, they are dead silent about the persecution of black farmers and dwellers in their own country.
The message we are sending to them is that they should clean their dirty and stinking back yards first before pointing fingers at other people.
As a fitting tribute to the victims of land dispossession in South Africa, South Africa's poetic and most prolific writer, Don Mattera, had something to say to those whose struggles we are today celebrating. Failure to recognise this would definitely be bordering on political hara-kiri on the part of such right wing parties and politicians.
We are saying this to remind all of us that political freedom without fundamentally redressing the inequities in land is meaningless to the landless villager in Mbuzini, Mpumalanga. Don Mattera had this to say, and I quote:
Remember to call at my grave When freedom finally Walks the land So that I may rise To tread familiar paths To see broken chains Fallen prejudice Forgotten injury Pardoned pains And when my eyes have filled their sight Do not run away for fright If I crumble to dust again It will only be the bliss Of a long-awaited dream That bids me rest When freedom finally walks the land.