Hon Chairperson, hon Ministers and Deputy Minister, hon members and distinguished guests, in the time that I have, I will focus on the aspect of land reform. Land has been at the centre of the struggle for liberation in our country. Of course there were other issues for which the struggle was waged. The history of the dispossession of land and how people were forcefully removed from their land is well documented. So, hon Minister, we are very interested in land restitution. One of the yardsticks that will be used to judge the success of our democracy will be the extent and pace of land restitution.
Indeed, land reform is an emotive matter - those who have are resisting it and there are those who want it to fail. Azapo wants land reform and land restitution to succeed.
We are therefore looking to your department, Minister, to drive the process of land restitution to its logical conclusion. We do not want a situation where, in another five years from now, this House is still discussing the return of land to victims of land dispossession. Azapo had expected that after all the battles that your department has had, and the partial failure of the willing-seller and willing-buyer system, the country would be moving towards land expropriation.
Minister, Azapo supports any effort to deal with fraud and corruption related to land reform. We also call upon your department to deal decisively with the so-called disputes in beneficiary communities where individuals and groups hijack and appropriate land given to communities for themselves. A classic example is the land handed over to the Masakaneng community around Groblersdal, where certain persons are now selling plots and pocketing the money.
We have also heard reports of interference by the political elite and the politically well-connected in Makgobaskloof. The result is that up to now the Makgoba community is still unable to benefit from possibly the richest farm in our land.
Lastly, we need success stories in land restitution. So, we are asking: Can your department, for example, identify progressively two farms per province and assist those communities to become large commercial farmers in the following two years?
Azapo supports Budget Vote 33. [Applause.]