Hon Chairperson, I must start by thanking the hon members for their contributions in this debate - it helps. Once hon members are able to go through the speech they would recognise that a lot of the things they said in the financial years 2009-10 and 2010-11 are contained in the policy speech.
Hon members will pick up all the issues that have been raised, including page 11 where the hon members were talking about state land. I just want to say that with regard to that hon members should just look at the speech. It talks about prioritising financial compensation and state land with regard to restitution. So hon members must not turn their backs on their own proposals - they are in the speech. Thank you very much for that.
Also, this thing of shifting funds is a historical challenge, because in the past there was this view that restitution would take five years. Then the allocation of funds by the Treasury was always skewed in favour of land redistribution. That is what is happening now. We also mentioned in the policy speech that we would negotiate with Treasury to make sure that we reorganise that balance. Thanks for raising the issue of soil erosion; we will look at that.
Regarding the Malema declaration - during the debate in the National Assembly, when the DA was telling us that we were too slow and things were not moving. We told them that they should not be excited about their young lioness - it was a young lioness of the DA that was saying that. We told them that we have our own young lions and we can unleash them, and that if we were to unleash them they would not be happy about it.
So, that is what happens. The Malema declaration is exactly what we are talking about, namely that the hon members of the House ought to appreciate the fact that the ANC is hastening slowly with this very emotive and complex issue of land restitution. We are hastening slowly so that we make sure that we also balance the transfer of land with food security.
Over the next 50 years, in fact, some people are actually anticipating that the Third World War will be about food security. Therefore, we cannot continue along a path that is not helpful to our people. We have to find a way of balancing that.
It is important for us also to recognise the fact that it is the ANC Youth League that is the tonsils of the ANC. The ANC is in government, and it is the tonsils of government. Therefore, it is for us to listen to the voices of young people. [Interjections.] They are actually throwing in new ideas to the ANC so that the ANC can begin to understand and appreciate the pressures that the young people are facing in our country. [Interjections.]
It is also important for members to trust the President when he continuously says in the National Assembly - and probably here too - that the policy of the ANC, as we speak now, is not speaking about nationalisation. However, it is a historic reality that in the Freedom Charter there is a clause which talks about that. And the Youth League speaks on that one. They are not actually coming from elsewhere with this story of nationalisation. The ANC processes will determine at the end of the day where this debate ends. So let us not jump to conclusions. It is premature to do so. [Interjections.]
With regard to communal land being allocated to farmers in the context of freeholds, we are going to present the Green Paper on the issue. Indeed, we will present the Green Paper while continuing with the debate that says the land belongs to all of us. It belongs to all of us! It does not belong to a few minorities. It does not! It belongs to all of us, and as South Africans we must engage in this debate. So when we present the Green Paper, we will engage in this debate and we are presenting corporate proposals that relate to state land, freehold land and land owned by foreigners in South Africa. [Interjections.]
There is no country in the world where foreigners own land freely - nowhere in the world. Perhaps we are the only one. Perhaps we are still wavering in the niceties of liberation of having been freed from apartheid constraints. But now we are facing reality. It is our land, our heritage and the future. That is why the Youth League is now saying: Let us look at the future. What will we inherit from our forefathers? What will we inherit? It is a real question - a real debate.
However, the policy remains the same, namely that we are not nationalising land until that decision is taken by a policy conference and that is the national conference of the ANC. It is true that state land or land acquired by the state in some instances will make the point here.
Indeed we would want to see political implementation of the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme on the ground. This is also another reality. A couple of months ago we bought a big machine in Muyexe, costing about half a million rand, for the women there to manufacture bricks and paving, because we are encouraging enterprise development.
Just over a week ago the machine was stolen. This is something that we are worried about, but we are following it up - stolen! This means that a huge asset has been stolen. An attempt was made, as this was meant to manufacture paving so that we could pave the internal roads in Muyexe. That would have created jobs. We regret this, but we have to say it. This is something that we cannot afford as a country - to provide an asset, secure it, lock it up, and to have somebody go in, disassemble it and run away with it. This is a big machine and one cannot carry it without loading it onto a bakkie.
We want to see visible change. That is what we are trying to do, and the reality is also that our institutions of learning - like the agricultural colleges and FET colleges - actually don't have the capability of living up to the expectation of the moment. We need to acknowledge that.
Lastly, land claims consitute a challenge - both financial and with regard to institutional arrangements that are in place. That is what we will see when we bring to the House the amendments to the Restitution of Land Rights Act, Act 22 of 1994, and survey that. Thank you. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.