Deputy Chairperson, hon Minister, hon Deputy Minister, hon members, the stated aim of the Department of Land Affairs is to create and maintain an equitable and sustainable land dispensation that results in social and economic development for all South Africans. Since this has been identified as a national priority, a new Ministry focusing on rural development and land issues has been formed to take this mandate forward. The DA wishes to congratulate Minister Nkwinti on his appointment to this new portfolio.
The overall Budget Vote analysis for 2008-09 and 2009-10 indicates a 0,2% decrease in the budget allocations for the department when inflation is taken into account. The analysis also indicates that the budget for the land restitution programme has a 46,69% decrease in budget allocation, while land reform has a 13,48% increase, which may indicate a shift in priority by the department to land reform.
The Commission on the Restitution of Land Rights has settled over 75 000 claims out of a total of 79 696 claims lodged by the cut-off date, namely 31 December 1998. The commission is projected to settle a total of 1 695 of the 4 560 outstanding claims - this figure might have changed - during the 2009-10 financial year. Some of the challenges faced by the commission, as we have heard, include the high cost of land claims that have been referred to the Land Claims Court for adjudication and disputes involving traditional leaders.
Deputy Chairperson, South Africa still has a large rural population, despite the migration to the cities in search for employment. The national land reform core objective has been to redistribute 30% of the country's productive white-owned agricultural land by 2014 to the landless people. Out of a total land mass of 122 million hectares, South Africa has 82 million hectares of agricultural land. The targeted 30% white agricultural land amounts to 24,6 million hectares.
While rural poverty and unemployment are prevailing problems across the country, agricultural development presents the best opportunity to redress this poverty and to reinvigorate the declining economies of many small country towns, and to stop the migration of people to the already overcrowded cities.
Hon Minister, the DA supports the united, profitable and sustainable agricultural sector in South Africa. The government's confrontational stance to commercial agriculture, as well as the threats to do away with the willing-buyer, willing-seller principle, have resulted in a decline in confidence in the agricultural sector, to say the least. The problems highlighted by the agricultural department state, and I quote:
While agricultural development is the best opportunity to address rural poverty, recent reviews of the land reform programmes and the Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme, CASP, indicate failing land reform projects as a result of poor access to farmer support services and unco-ordinated programmes. Smallholder farming is not in a better condition either because of poor access to the same services, including extension services.
While the Washington-based Rural Development Institute stated that, hectare for hectare, smaller holdings generally produce more than larger ones, this has certainly not been the case in parts of South Africa. Extracts from the paper on evaluating land reform's contribution to South Africa's pro-poor growth pattern 2008 show that to date land reform has not significantly changed the socioeconomic aspects of the large majority of the beneficiaries, leading to no significant income distribution. Based on an evaluation of all land reform programmes with a focus on the findings with regard to the land projects of the Molemole Municipality in Limpopo, the paper details that out of 42 projects assessed, only three showed significant development, 20 were entirely abandoned or showed no activity, with only 0,4% of the official beneficiaries benefiting in any way from the projects. At the same time land reform has caused a 89,5% decrease in production as well as many losses on the affected farms.
Several factors contributed to these pessimistic results. Solutions to overcoming these failures are therefore essential. Owing to the historical bias and the sensitive sociopolitical character of land in South Africa, land reform must and will continue.
Deputy Chairperson, I look forward, as a new member of this committee, to visiting projects that have been successful, as well as those not so successful, to gain greater insight into their problems. Hon Minister, the DA also looks forward to a good working relationship with your department to ensure sustainable land and agricultural reform. This agricultural reform must be well planned, efficiently managed and adequately funded, with minimal disruption to food security. I thank you. [Applause.]