Hon Chairperson, hon chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Rural Development and Land Reform, hon members, the new Department of Rural Development and Land Reform and its predecessor, the Department of Land Affairs, whose Budget Vote we are presenting today to this House, are central to the dream of the realisation of a better life for the majority of South Africans.
The most basic asset for the development of the economic viability of any nation, right from ancient times up to modern-day society, is access to land. It is because of this fundamental truth that many bloody wars have been fought by nations, either to increase their ownership of land and its movable assets or to defend the land which they already had against aggressors who wanted to dispossess them of this essential asset. The South African nation is not different from other nations in history and has not been affected differently, and therefore, as already indicated by the hon the Minister in his speech, this department has, on behalf of the new democratic government and the people of our country, been tackling the challenge of the equitable distribution of land over the past 15 years. We all know what many centuries of colonialism and apartheid did in the dispossession of millions of indigenous South Africans of their most valuable asset, the land itself.
As already reflected in the Minister's speech, the battle for equity in ownership and access to land by the people of our country is far from over. While a lot of progress has been made over the past 15 years, it is clear that a lot more still needs to be done if we are to avoid the issue of land hunger from becoming a ticking time bomb in our midst. It is quite clear that this department and even government as a whole cannot solve this problem alone. We are therefore calling on all South Africans, especially those who have benefited from the historical injustices, to be more patriotic and constructive in contributing towards a speedy resolution of this critical matter.
As we look forward to the five years of the mandate of the Fourth Democratic Parliament and democratic government, the expectations of our people are very clear, as captured in the manifesto of the ruling party, the ANC. It is this very manifesto which has again informed the priorities of government, as reflected in the Medium-Term Strategic Framework, which was adopted by the cabinet lekgotla at the end of May 2009. Both the manifesto and the Medium-Term Strategic Framework have placed rural development, linked to land reform, at the forefront of the priorities of government over the next five years. We are quite aware that the task the voters have put before us is a mammoth one. Again, let me emphasise that a lot of progress has been made over the past 15 years in improving the quality of life of people in rural areas, but a lot more still needs to be done. It is indisputable that many rural villages have over the past 15 years received services such as electrification, reticulation of clean water, new tarred roads or regravelled roads, bridges, new bus and taxi ranks, new clinics and hospitals, new crches and new schools.
What the new mandate of this new department intends to do is to consolidate these gains and create a focused one-stop champion and catalyst to accelerate the creation of vibrant and sustainable rural communities. The aim is not to reinvent the wheel, but rather to create one national centre through which overall planning, co-ordinated implementation and monitoring and evaluation can be done. The key role of this Ministry and department will be to rally a wide range of players within government in all three spheres of its business, communities and civil society, NGOs and other players in a common cause of developing our rural areas.
In order to succeed, we will have to do a lot of groundwork, in order to be able to provide the strategic leadership required, which is what this Ministry and department are required to do, to provide the strategic leadership. To us, therefore, the motto of "Working together, we can do more" is not just a slogan, but a necessity.
We expect the long-term end result of our co-ordinated intervention to be rural communities which are comprehensive participants in the full life of our country, that is, in its economic life, in its social life and in its political life. We are quite aware that for people's energies to be unleashed, they must first have food security, and therefore there is a symbiotic relationship between this Ministry and department and that of Agriculture, but we must say from the outset that rural development is not synonymous with agriculture, but goes far beyond it in terms of broader economic participation, which will include, amongst other things, tourism, mining, construction and manufacturing, and therefore to us the revitalisation or initiating of new rural towns and rural trade centres is going to be very critical.
It is also clear that central to the success of our intervention will be people empowerment. We will have to contribute towards better social organisation, leadership and cohesion. In so doing, we will have to build on existing institutions of leadership and management of communities, such as traditional leadership and cultural and religious organisations. We are not going to try to replace these with new institutions of leadership, but rather to strengthen and empower them.
Improved functioning of institutions of learning, such as further education and training colleges and adult basic education and training centres, will be key to our success. At the end of the day the only guarantee of sustainable and vibrant development will be the enthusiasm and the skills and capacity of local people to drive whatever projects we will have initiated together with them.
Hon Chair, it is quite clear that if this new department is going to be able to deliver on its mandate, some serious reorganisation and refocusing will have to happen inhouse within our department. We must all heed the President's call that in the next five years Parliament will have to work differently, more efficiently, and faster in responding to the needs of the people. As we were campaigning throughout the length and breadth of our country for the elections which have just been concluded, together with the then president of the ANC and now the President of the Republic - I was lucky enough to be part of his team during the campaign - the message was very clear. That message was "A ke ku sheshwe" - let everything be done faster.
In this regard we have already started the process of reviewing the strategy, business and operational plans, and ultimately the delivery structure of the department, contrary to what the hon Groenewald has said. Any organisation which does not regularly re-examine its strategy will not be able to perform.
The Department of Land Affairs completed an extensive review of its organisational structure in the previous financial year, and the structure was agreed to by the Department of the Public Service and Administration. In order to align with the development of a Comprehensive Rural Development Strategy, our department will have to further redesign its organisational architecture. The added mandate of rural development will require a review with key focus on creating strategic, organisational, technical, planning and institutional capacity within the department itself.
In addition to the review of its organisational structure, the skills set of existing staff in the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform would also have to be expanded, to include the skills required to implement sustainable rural development. In this regard we have already been in touch with one of the leading institutions of higher learning in the country, which is already working on a programme with us to address this matter.
Hon Chairperson, the new administration has prioritised rural development, as we have said already, for the next five years. As such this department will have to make sure that it is able to deliver on this mandate, and that everybody within the department is oriented towards ensuring that this is effectively completed.
Further to this is the need for the department to rebrand itself, moving from a department that focused more on land reform to one that is now the custodian of rural development. The need to create a new brand and new culture of thinking is therefore imperative, and it is for this reason that the department has started this process of rebranding, so as to ensure that the whole organisation gives effect to its new mandate of rural development and land reform.
Chairperson, as we said earlier on, the issue of land lies at the heart of our communities in the rural areas. As such, it is imperative for us to inculcate a culture of effective and regular communication with our communities and other land reform beneficiaries. We must remain committed to ensuring that land reform beneficiaries, including claimants, are regularly updated about the status of their requests, their applications as well as their claims. We have identified this as being a major weakness up to date, where claims are being processed but people are not kept informed at every step. We want to make sure that this is addressed.
As the commission begins the difficult task of settling the remaining rural claims, which are complex due to their nature, it is imperative that communication with such claimants takes place regularly and effectively. Our rural communities especially are often isolated and disadvantaged by not being actively involved and informed of these processes, and in the age of technology this is not acceptable. In the age of cellular phones which is upon us our rural communities are able to access communication, and all of us, members of this House, know very well that because of this advanced technology we are often inundated with calls from our constituencies, requesting us to address a number of issues, and it is our intention that, as a department, especially in the area of land restitution, we must make full use of this technology. The department will therefore harness every mode of communication available to make sure that there is improved communication with our communities out there, especially in finalising the various claims with regard to restitution.
I would like to take this opportunity also to thank the portfolio committee for interactions we have had so far. Together we will face up to the challenges that lie ahead, and together we will ensure that we remain mindful of the need to ensure a better life for all our people.
Chairperson, the success of creating vibrant and sustainable rural communities depends on us working as a collective. Let us therefore tackle the way forward together.
Ka Sepedi re re, kodumela moepathutse, ga go lehumo le t?wago kgauswi. [In Sepedi we say, hard work pays.]
We must always bear in mind that, working together, we certainly can do more. I thank you. [Applause.]