Chairperson, hon Minister, hon Deputy Minister, and hon MEC, Mr Van Rensburg of the Western Cape, hon members, I wish to thank the department for its presentation to our committees and, in particular, our committee chairperson, Ms Qikani, for her effective meetings.
The world's population is moving to the cities. Africa's urban population is predicted to double by 2025, with 50 cities in Africa having populations of one million or more people. Land reform remains one of the government's key priorities. Poor service delivery, high unemployment in rural areas, slow economic growth and social fragmentation remain challenges, according to the analysis by the department.
Whilst the much talked-about, leaked Green Paper has not been officially published, the department states that it is in the process of proposing two separate Green Papers, one on rural development and the other on land reform and agrarian transformation. This could possibly include an increase in land tax to force prices down to ensure that large farm owners would be obliged to sell their land to the state.
In the Upgrading of Land Tenure Rights Act, Act 112 of 1991, provision is made for the ownership as well as the transfer of tribal land, in full ownership, to the communities. This land should be transferred to individual emerging farmers, with the title deed, if productive farming and food security are to be maximised.
Some 95% of the land restitution claims lodged have been resolved. However, I see or hear that land restitution claims might be reopened going back to the time of Harry die Strandloper, when he owned the whole of Sea Point and Green Point. What the opening of this Pandora's Box is going to do, I do not know. However, due to poor administration by the department, offers to purchase land from willing sellers were negotiated and signed to the value of some R12 billion. As a result, R700 million of the restitution budget has been used to settle urgent court orders on litigation awarded to applicants.
Many problems remain. The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform still do not know how much land is in state-ownership or the general ownership of land in South Africa. The comprehensive land register is only estimated to be completed in 2013. Many farm owners await their deed registration certificates without which they struggle to obtain loans, as there is no security.
In 2010-11 a R2 billion reprioritisation was made to the 2010 adjustment estimates to include and increase expenditure of R1,5 billion to pay for urgent court orders and finalise critical land claims. According to the department, some 18 297 claims must be settled and 3 673 claims are to be researched. One wonders what these unnecessary legal claims will cost the taxpayer in the interim.
In addition, 7,4 million hectares of land, which have been transferred or redistributed to previously disadvantaged persons since 1994, have not yielded the desired results. The Minister alluded to that. One of the reasons is the lack of capacity of new landowners or farmers to farm productively and thereby improve economic development. Since the inception of the government's proactive land acquisition strategy plans in 2006, some 98,3% of state land transferred to land reform beneficiaries by the department has not been transferred as freehold title. This, in effect, means the government is acquiring state-owned land, whilst black beneficiaries are merely its tenants.
Under the land distribution scheme since 1994, in my own province, the Free State, some 200 farms have either been abandoned or are not productive. Whilst many farms will now be assisted through the recapitalisation programme, this must be monitored, working closely with sufficiently trained extension officials and mentors. Beneficiaries who do not or cannot farm must be replaced by farmers who use agricultural land productively and contribute towards economic development and food security. Taxpayers' money must not be thrown into a bottomless pit. The department hopes that 1 807 farms countrywide will be recapitalised and developed by 2014. One quarter of the R900 million budget for restitution was diverted to the recapitalisation programme in the last financial year.
The New Growth Path, NGP, intends to create some 500 000 jobs in the rural sector in the next 10 years. This department, together with the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, intends to rehabilitate some of the 27 identified irrigation schemes in the former homelands, a few of which have been visited by our NCOP committee. The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, because of its larger budget, will apparently rehabilitate the infrastructure of these irrigation schemes, and the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries will concentrate on the farming aspects. These schemes have the potential of creating many jobs and increasing food security, if used properly. Soil erosion is very bad in the Eastern Cape, and combating it could also provide many job opportunities.
The DA's approach to land reform has always been about the creation of genuine, broad-based opportunity, coupled with the expansion and diversification of South Africa's commercial agricultural sector. This would increase productivity, create more rural jobs and promote food security. It requires an energetic and focused government which is willing and able to perform its own functions effectively, whilst at the same time creating economic conditions which are conducive to sustained economic growth, attract investment, and create jobs to help eradicate the grinding rural poverty which grips the majority of our communities. I thank you. [Applause.]