The resolution of the 52nd national conference of the ANC in December 2007, on agrarian change, land reform and rural development, confirmed the ANC's acute awareness of and sensitivity to the centrality of land as a fundamental element in the resolution of the race, gender and class contradictions in South Africa.
The Ministry, through the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, is at the coalface of developing a new draft policy on communal land tenure. This policy does not seek to eliminate traditional leaders in executing their mandate as enshrined in section 12 of the Constitution. Rather, it seeks to create an amicable framework that will permit not only the conferment of secure rights on residents of former homelands, but also the creation of opportunities for unlocking poverty and advancing a transparent and democratic system of land governance in communal areas.
Consultative workshops with traditional leaders and other role-players have taken place and the policy document is being developed. This document incorporates both consensual and competing views registered in the workshops held thus far, under the auspices of the departmental work team tasked with developing a communal land tenure programme.
The draft policy notes that private sector banks have been reluctant to provide credit to the communal areas due to the lack of formal titles. Workshop deliberations held with stakeholders in developing policy are of the view that a state-owned bank or a special credit facility should be established to provide credit extension to residents of communal areas.
Communal areas have experienced a limited inflow of private sector investment. Programmes such as agricultural broad-based black economic empowerment, AgriBBBEE, need to be harnessed to support the economic empowerment of communal residents and, in doing so, to set guidelines that promote an environment that is conducive to the participation of previously disadvantaged black producers in the mainstream agricultural economy.
AgriBBBEE law applies to the entire value chain in the South African agricultural sector, including economic activities relating to the provision of agricultural inputs, services, farming, processing, distribution, logistics and applied activities that add value to agricultural producers. The Vukani farmers' partnership with the Bloemfontein abattoir, for example, is a clear example of an entire value chain programme.
These initiatives should be prioritised in order to build and expand the participation of residents of communal areas in the agricultural value chain, since the underlying principle of communal tenure is to unlock the economic potential therein.
In conclusion, any effective, equitable and speedy resolution of the land question will require an enduring, collective, national political effort to overcome the problems. Co-ordination and integration across all relevant organs of state, civil society and traditional leadership are the key to successful execution of the sustainable land reform programme.
The ANC supports this Budget Vote. I thank you. [Applause.]