Deputy Speaker, the DA supports land reform as a necessary process in undoing the legacy of the Natives Land Act, Act 27 of 1913, in order to ensure nation-building and social cohesion.
Postapartheid South Africa inherited a dual agrarian system with large- scale commercial farming comprising some 37 000 farmers and small-scale subsistence farming comprising about two million farmers. During the nationwide oversight tour, it was evident that government has made strides to ensure access to land for historically disadvantaged groups. These beneficiaries, however, were at different stages of use of land, depending on the kind of support available to them.
I would like to focus on the support provided to land reform beneficiaries. South African land reform has suffered from the lack of a comprehensive support programme. The committee noted that the imperative was to push for the acquisition of land, in order to reach the target of redistributing 30% of agricultural land by 2014, whilst neglecting the follow-up support required for the majority of beneficiaries. The postsettlement process has been, to a large extent, characterised as unco-ordinated, fragmented, and inadequate. For example, Symandrift claims citrus production collapsed due to a lack of water. The Mkhuzane Community Trust in KwaZulu-Natal has also raised challenges related to water shortages. Furthermore, almost all enterprises, schemes, and projects visited were being hamstrung by high operational costs.
The committee could not establish any mechanisms to ensure that such services were supplied. Failure to co-ordinate these activities resulted in the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform taking over responsibilities of other line function departments. Currently, R2,15 billion has been allocated for the recapitalisation and development programme. In some cases, the recapitalisation amount distributed to farms is more than the original land price.
The almost nonexistent support from the Department of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries is most concerning and needs special attention. As an attempt to better co-ordinate support services for land reform beneficiaries, the Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme, Casp, was launched as long ago as 2004. It is almost a decade since the inception of Casp. Therefore, the department should be able to give specific details on how Casp has, in the past nine years, changed the quality of life of the targeted beneficiaries. This information is, however, not available. The newly launched Fetsa Tlala programme must be focused towards providing support to small-scale farmers and cannot be used for political gain.
The committee also noted the proposal for the establishment of the Office of the Valuer-General. The DA is concerned about the establishment of such an office. Section 25(2)(b) of the Constitution explicitly provides that land may only be expropriated "subject to compensation, the amount of which and the time and manner of payment of which have either been agreed to by those affected or decided or approved by a court." Appointing an extra- judicial body to determine compensation will open the process of awarding compensation to abuse. Land reform could contribute to the equitable and comprehensive growth of the rural economy but only if it is not used for short-term political gain. Policy uncertainty is currently one of the biggest factors hampering agricultural growth, and consensus on how to proceed must be found.
Ek wil Minister Nkwinti bedank vir die kalm manier waarop hy grondhervorming aangepak het. Ons het kalmte nodig en nie opruiende uitsprake van politieke partye met F's in hul name nie. Daarom vra ek hierdie Huis om seker te maak dat geen opruiende uitsprake gemaak word in die aanloop tot die verkiesing nie, want dit kan die grondhervormingsproses belemmer. Dankie. [Applous.] (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)
[I should like to thank Minister Nkwinti for the calm way in which he has tackled land reform. We need calm and not inflammatory utterances from political parties that have Fs in their names. That is why I am requesting this House to ensure that no inflammatory utterances are made in the run-up to the election, since this could hamper the land reform process. Thank you. [Applause.]]