Hon Deputy Chairperson, hon members and ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank the Deputy Chair for acknowledging the youth; I will not do so because you have already done it. I was going to simply indicate that they are a very important group of young people whom we think will assist the country in rural development over the next few years. They are a group of young people who are going through soft skills training, and some of them are ready to move into hard skills training from 1 July.
We have just emerged from the local government elections, which were very rigorous and served to remind us of the vibrancy of the democracy we are nurturing. These elections, more than any other before, underscored the centrality of service delivery.
The department has already submitted to Parliament the strategic plan for the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, period 2011 to 2014, accompanied by the Annual Performance Plan, APP.
Our land reform fundamentals remain the same: deracialising the rural economy, democratic and equitable allocation and use of land across gender, race and class, and sustained production discipline for food security. Our Comprehensive Rural Development Programme, CRDP, fundamentals or measurables remain the same as well: meeting basic human needs; rural enterprise development; and small rural industries underpinned by markets and credit facilities. In this budget and policy speech, Deputy Chair, we are reviewing the work we have been undertaking over the past financial year, and also indicating areas of priority going forward.
We have strengthened the back office of the department, a very important function, to support and sustain the programmes that we are running in the field. We have also rationalised the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights. We have done that to ensure that there is synergy between what it does and the department, and to ensure that there is clarity in terms of accountability. That has been done because of the experiences over the many years that we have been running this programme. Our view is that it makes sense to clarify role responsibilities between the Chief Land Claims Commissioner, who has the responsibility to directly manage the restitution programme, and the accountability of the department in the form of the director-general, so that there is a clear line of accountability between the two.
This streamlining will ensure that the authority structure should result in that greater clarity. We are doing this for one reason only, namely to improve our performance and our service delivery to our people.
Land restitution is very complex and emotive. Improving our service delivery in this programme is not an option - it is a must. Many claimants have passed on, and continue to do so, while waiting for the day when their claims would be processed and concluded. We have taken the opportunity whenever we met with claimants, to pass the President's and government's apologies to affected families. Our people have accepted the apologies, but we cannot take this goodwill for granted. We have to respond. The rationalisation I referred to is part of the response to make sure that we have an accountable team that can respond.
The department has taken a strategic decision to prioritise financial compensation and state land in terms of restitution, while at the same time raising the tempo on solving the more complex and intricate land claims. The memorandum of understanding signed between the department and Mondi could prove to be an invaluable model in this regard.
The Recapitalisation and Development Programme is proving to be one of the most strategic decisions the department has taken during this period, despite the numerous challenges. It is supported by strategic partnerships with commercial farmers and the Recapitalisation and Development Fund.
One of the observations, particularly from commercial farmers with regard to the challenges referred to, is that the department's method of selecting strategic partners, particularly mentors, is often flawed, and that the department would choose or select farmers who have failed in their own farms and ventures. They hold that in certain instances strategic partners chosen by the department are not interested, and that they really want money.
The other criticism comes from emerging farmers who say that the department's selection of beneficiaries of redistributed land is not assisting; it selects people who do not have an interest in or ability and passion for farming. Both criticisms are valid and the department has accepted them. The two groups have requested to be part of the selection processes, and the department has accepted the requests. It is now left to the anticipated National Reference Group on Land Reform working with the department to work out the modalities.
One of the biggest success stories is the pilot that we are running on small rural towns' revitalisation. The two pilot sites, which we are running are both in the Western Cape; one is Witzenberg and the other in Dysselsdorp, in the Greater Oudtshoorn Municipality. These two are examples of what could be referred to as emergent, vibrant, equitable and sustainable communities, where generally all sectors of the community are involved in the development of their community. We invite hon members to visit them.
The Prince Albert Hamlet is an example of what young people could achieve, given an opportunity and back-up support. Both have become our reference, or learning points, in their respective areas of strength. I will not say much about the biggest youth development programme we are running - the National Rural Youth Service Corps, Narysec. I can only say that the only province that is not part of it for now is KwaZulu-Natal. We are in discussion with the province so that they can take part in this very important programme. I apologise, Deputy Chair, also to the hon members from KwaZulu-Natal. It is coming. I discussed it with the premier last Saturday.
The important thing about these young South Africans is that they have been chosen across the gender line, 50/50. At the moment we have 7 958 of them; 50% of them are women and every fourth person is supposed to be somebody with a disability.
We are thankful and very grateful to Disabled People South Africa, for assisting us in this regard in terms of selecting. This is another programme which reflects what could be done working together as departments of government. We are in partnership with the following departments: Defence and Military Veterans, Higher Education and Training, National Treasury through Statistics SA and Social Development. We all work together in this programme, and some provinces and local municipalities and communities are involved. All of them are involved in household and community profiling, because it is important for us to understand what is happening in each household so that we can make our plans effective. In other words, we will have maximum impact in each household targeted.
We have been piloting with Mrs Sibisi from KwaZulu-Natal over the past couple of months because she trains people in arts and crafts - women and young people, particularly in rural areas - and trades with the market. This is a very powerful programme, and we are working with her because there is a gap in the group. There are those who have disabilities and could therefore not be taken in for army training. Some of the youngsters you see there have gone through two months of nonmilitary training at De Brug. We want to take some of those who have disabilities through this course because it trains them in entrepreneurship and skills, with the market being ready for them. They can actually go home and use their acquired skills to start their own enterprises in arts and crafts and related commercial ventures.
On a very small scale, we are involved with the department, working with partners from both the public and private sectors, to respond and intervene in areas, which have been hit by natural disasters - lightning, flash floods and thunderstorms, and so forth. We have been providing emergency housing in the form of steel and sandbag technologies, as well as accessories such as gel stoves, solar lights, solar radios and lightning conductors. This has given us an opportunity, as a department, to work with partners to introduce, as you can see, solar lighting, solar radios, solar energy, and so on, to drive heating in homes.
These interventions, small as they may be, go a very long way in assisting affected households to quickly recover from the shock and trauma of suddenly losing valuable assets. It provides government with the opportunity to test and try new techniques to help out vulnerable households.
There have been very serious challenges; among them, the most enduring challenge is water. Actually, the scarcity of water is even undermining our efforts. In Muyexe, the biggest pilot project that we are running for the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme, CRDP, is water. Whenever you see coverage in the media, they talk about water. They are right.
The provincial department is constructing a pipeline from Nandoni Dam, some 45 km away, to bring water there. However, we would like the water not just to go to Muyexe, but to go to all villages on the way towards Muyexe. We are also constructing 37 km of water pipeline from the Orange River to Riemvasmaak in the Northern Cape. In KwaZulu-Natal we have constructed a water reservoir at Msinga, and at Disake in the North West province. Water is a challenge.
There is fraud and corruption. We have picked these up and approached the President, who has agreed to sign a proclamation for us to appoint a special investigation unit to conduct these investigations. Some of the officials of the department have been arrested already, and we will report to this House as progress continues.
There have been challenges, some of which are more technical in nature and are reflected on page seven with regard to eco-industrial implementation in the previous financial year. Of course, the problem is solved now. We are moving on and making progress. We have been in consultation with stakeholders, trying to forge social contracts with all forms of programmes of the department, such as the Farm Equity Schemes, Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development, the Proactive Land Acquisition Strategy, Plas, and other similar programmes.
We have been engaging with beneficiaries of this programme since November last year. The objective has been to share with them our current policy, and legislative, strategic and operational dimensions. We want to hear from them how they experience the programmes, and also learn from them with regard to our future projections, intentions and thoughts with regard to the new policy, particularly the key elements of the Green Paper on Land Reform, as well as the Draft Land Tenure Security Bill. Testing these thoughts and plans for the future with them has been very useful.
We want to continue with the priorities for the next financial year, including the provinces, municipalities and districts, because that's where work is taking place. We are working on that and in doing so, understand the challenges that are there, and that we need a smaller and leaner head office, with more work done at district and provincial levels.
Outcome 7 enjoins us to build vibrant, equitable and sustainable rural communities. This requires a closer working together with communities so that we avoid a one-size-fits-all approach in rural development. A deeper understanding of each household deepens insight into challenges facing each individual household and, ultimately, the whole community. Household and community profiling will therefore continue, and we will do that because it helps us to understand what it is that we have to do and deploy our resources that we have discussed accordingly. We hope that the Narysec group will grow to 20 000 over the next three years. It costs us about R800 million. This will contribute handsomely to the government's 2020 job creation programme. For now they are still going through training.
We are also developing a norms and standards schedule for the CRDP, because we need to understand exactly what we are dealing with. The challenge of backlogs in rural communities is serious but has not been quantified. We are working on it. Without it, any targets will amount to thumb-sucking. The department will nonetheless continue with its ad hoc, albeit measured, programmes on meeting basic human needs in rural communities, as a foundation for the next two economic development phases of the CRDP, ie rural enterprise development and small rural industries.
One major socioeconomic infrastructure development project which should commence by the end of next month is the Nelson Mandela Legacy Bridge over the Mbhashe River. It will join Mveso, the village where Nelson Mandela was born, and the other village, Ludondolo, and will will reduce travelling time from Mveso to the nearest town, which is 45km away by an hour.
This project will assist these communities in terms of saving money because, for now, those who have travelled to Mveso would know that if you are going to Mveso, you have to go around, almost close to Mthatha and turn back. This route will be cut by almost an hour, because it will move across the river, and take about 10 or 15 minutes from Mveso to reach the R72. We will also build two low-water bridges in Limpopo and two in Mpumalanga during this financial year.
Two other major socioeconomic projects have already started in Nkandla and Sikhame in KwaZulu-Natal. The Nkandla project is the brainchild of the community, and we are working in partnership on a smart growth development, together with the communities of the Masibambisane trust. It is at a feasibility stage. It is coming. The department has laid out bulk infrastructure for water and sanitation for 900 housing units. This, we are hoping, will lay the foundation for human settlements to come in and build houses. If they don't, we will.
Food security for all remains high on government's priorities. This is spelled out clearly in the performance agreement between the Minister and the President, in terms of Outcome 7. But food security can only be successfully executed with the involvement of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. In terms of outputs 1 and 2 of Outcome 7, the leading department is Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. We have entered into an agreement with the department that, as we have capitalised funds, they will deal with the developments.
Finally, we would like to thank the hon members for completing this. It is a long programme, but we will be ready to respond to questions. Thank you very much. [Applause.]