Hon Chairperson, hon Minister and Deputy Minister, members of the House and guests present, we have been sitting in this House for a long time today, and we are almost a little tired, but I shall try to keep your attention a little longer.
South Africa has a rich history, which is written in the minds of the dead and the living souls. It had been in the interests of the apartheid regime to institutionally undocument the African history, as seen and told by our forefathers, and as continuously conveyed to successive generations. The struggles of the African tribes against invasion and colonialisation still have to be properly documented to tell the story of the life of an African after the arrival of the colonial powers in our country. The systematic massacre of African tribes to steal their land has not been told nor documented. The perpetual indoctrination and colonisation of Africans to subhuman status in the land of their birth continued unabated. All these inhuman acts were calculated to disempower the African tribes socially and economically. The loss of land and stock broke their resolve to withstand these greedy colonisers.
Without opening the gaping wounds of the past, the real Congress of the People held in 1955 declared this, as contained in the Freedom Charter. This declaration talks to land ownership. It presupposed the reversal of the land grab by the white minority invaders. We should remember that the Freedom Charter is not just a historical document, but an important guide about the direction in which we should take our country. It continues to provide an enduring vision of our new democratic South African society.
To live up to the issues that the declaration alluded to, the ANC had identified in its 2009 election manifesto rural development, food security and land reform as one of the five medium-term policy priorities. It does make sense for the ANC-led government to make serious interventions on this matter, as the mandate to do so was received on 22 April 2009. Our government will intensify land reform programmes to ensure that more land is in the hands of the rural poor and will provide them with the necessary technical skills and financial resources to use the land productively.
It is common cause that these interventions will require the commitment of all citizens of this country, black and white. In keeping with the preamble of the Constitution, those who benefited during apartheid rule or inherited land unjustly acquired should recognise the injustices of our past. Pursuant to this, the following measures will be undertaken to review the appropriateness of the existing land redistribution programme: introducing measures to speed up the land reform and redistribution; promoting land ownership by South Africans; and expanding the agrarian reform programme and promoting agricultural co-operatives and agroprocessing in the agricultural areas. These measures will change the face of rural areas for the better.
Ours is a developmental state that is not shy to intervene. We cannot leave reform, redress and sharing of state resources to markets. Successful attempts have been made to undermine the spirit of the land reform programmes aimed at recognising and redressing the injustices of our past. State intervention to foster co-operation with the haves cannot be overemphasised.
Our strategic plan, based on the 2009 Budget, tabled on 11 February 2009, provides for several programmes of the department flowing from the medium- term policy priorities, focusing on rural development and land and agrarian reform, which falls under these seven programmes.
The total number of land claims lodged with the department is just under 80 000. The commission has settled about 95% of these land claims. These enabled the restoration of at least 2,3 million hectares of land to 302 000 households. We therefore still have to deal with 4 200 tricky and more difficult restitution claims before the end of 2011. These claims are mainly affected by budgeting shortfalls, escalating prices, jurisdiction and boundary conflicts, claims at the Land Claims Court, disputes among beneficiaries, and, of course, implementation capacity within the department.
An amount of R1,9 billion is therefore provided for these programmes in the 2009-10 financial year. This amount will enable the department to intensify stakeholder engagement, accelerate research and gazette all outstanding plans before the end of this financial year, establish regional price notches for acquisition of land for restitution purposes, and review legislation and court processes. This work will be topped with the implementation of revised postsettlement support in conjunction with rural development strategies. The land has to be redistributed to the landless masses of our people. The department has targeted the delivery of 30% of prime agricultural land by the end of 2014. This translates to 24,6 million hectares currently held by white farmers. We therefore call upon those who have land to co-operate with the authority in order for us to conclude this process. However, we appreciate the co-operation received in respect of the 5,2 million hectares that have already been redistributed. As this programme is key for food security and rural development strategies more resources will be required in the next financial years to speedily conclude land reform in our country.
Hon Chairperson, the above matters of land restitution and redistribution will require sufficient men and women in the department who have to do things differently in order to achieve improved results. The department needs to further reduce the vacancy rate to a figure less than 10% by the end of this financial year. There is a need to realign certain funded priorities to release resources to key priorities of the department. A number of legislative measures which impact on the land question need to be reviewed and processed to enhance the speedy and successful conclusion of land reform.
In conclusion, the ANC-led government will move with speed on all priorities that seek to transform this unfavourable state of affairs. Of course this will be done within the scope of the limited financial resources. We should not deny the reality of the global recession, which we are not insulated against. As stated in his inaugural speech, President Zuma indicated that the effect of the global recession will impact on the pace of delivery and not on our direction.
Hon Chairperson, I would like take advantage of this budget debate to express my appreciation of the improvement in the performance of our soccer team, Bafana Bafana. There are clear indications that with more practice and effort they will cause a lot of upsets and pain to other countries come the 2010 Fifa World Cup soccer tournament. [Time expired.] Working together we can do more! I thank you. [Applause.]