We are busy finalising the transaction on the acquisition of shares at the Bloemfontein Abattoir so that 30% shares in the business are reserved for emerging livestock farmers. The abattoir has already been acquired for R30 million. This is part of contributing to our commitment to creating vibrant, equitable, and sustainable communities and food security for all.
One of the things that we shall be implementing going forward is land reform. This is a task that we take very seriously in the department. In his state of the nation address, His Excellency President Jacob Zuma said that:
Government will provide comprehensive support to smallholder farmers by speeding up land reform and providing technical, infrastructural and financial support.
Land reform is one of the tasks central to the transformation of our society. Ordinary citizens must benefit from the post-1994 political breakthrough.
We will convene a land tenure summit in August 2014 in order to reach consensus on what ought to be done practically to reverse the colonial and apartheid legacy, which means that more than 75% of the black population is predominantly landless, propertyless, unskilled and without secure tenure rights. Land reform within the context of the National Development Plan is accorded the daunting task of ensuring that both economic growth and integration are facilitated.
As I indicated, I want to concentrate on something that was said here.
The EFF continuously offers us its vote to amend the Constitution. I am not sure how we should really indicate to them that we do not want a vote that would lead to disaster. We are a responsible government. I want to repeat what former President Thabo Mbeki said. Quoting Karl Marx, he said:
Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-determined circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past.
He goes on to say that:
No revolution is worthy of its name if it does not know when to enter into such compromises, and gets lost about what it should do afterwards, in pursuit of its strategic goals.
We are sure about where we are going; we are focused. We know what we are doing. This is why, when others were calling for an eye for an eye in this country, we said that South Africa belongs to all who live in it and that no government can justly claim authority over South Africa unless that government is based on the will of the people. This government is based on the will of an overwhelming 62% majority, as confirmed in the May general election. So, I really want to request our young brothers, the EFF, to understand what we are busy with here.
I want to refer to another quote, one by Paul Kruger, the last President of the old Boer South African Republic, also known as the Transvaal Republic, who wrote in his memoirs about the many wars that he waged against the indigenous people to take their land and livestock. This quote describes a battle against King Moshoeshoe. He says:
From there the commando marched further in the direction of Moshesh's town. On the way, near the Katskatsberg, we came upon a strong Kaffir force of about 20 000 men ... we held a council of war in which it was decided that the burghers of the South African Republic should receive farms in the territory which was now about to be freed of the enemy and hold them under the laws of the Orange Free State. The Government of the Free State was informed of this resolution. An attack was made on the Malap Mountains and met with perfect success. The enemy was driven off, a large number of his men killed and wounded and a quantity of cattle captured ... we counted no less than 8 000 head. The Kaffirs made their way back to the town, pursued by our men, and, after some more fighting, we managed to capture 30 000 more sheep, 8 000 oxen and a few hundred horses.
This is how our land and livestock were taken from us. [Interjections.] Kruger and his ilk did not pay for it. It was taken by force. I am making this point to say that I dare wonder what South Africa would look like if the ANC did not exist. We have young, impatient people who want to lead us in a different direction, but we have those who meted out this brutal force against the indigenous people of this country, not really being "abantu abangenantloni". There is no apology, and we are saying, live with us, stay with us in a peaceful way. However, you cannot ask us not to redress the imbalances of the past; we are going to do it. [Interjections.]
You see, the hon Minister proposes this 50%, and the DA from the Western Cape says that the Minister is imposing. The Minister says discuss, discuss, discuss. The time will come when we will have to take a decision. [Interjections.] That decision will be to do the right thing for our people, who have been struggling for so long in this country. So, you can either join the moving bus or step aside, as the President said yesterday. [Applause.]
I want to close by quoting again. You see, Sol Plaatje indicated that the land question - where this whole thing started - is the "most cruel and abominable law ever conceived since the introduction of white rule in South Africa". In closing, I once again want to quote the first president of the ANC, the honourable John Langalibalele Dube, who said: "The white ox has got all the pasture; the black ox has nowhere to graze." We cannot leave things as they are. We must go forward in implementing our programme so that we, the people of this country, can live in peace and prosperity. I thank you. [Applause.]
The MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES: Chairperson, let me start by saying that Amilcar Cabral warns us when he says: "Tell no lies; claim no easy victories". [Interjections.]
So unfortunate is apartheid that no-one claims a part of it. Even those who fought on the border defending it disclaim it today. No-one would agree that they had benefitted from the previous regime. I am sorry. They come and tell us that we have weak leadership, that we make the wrong policies. Why must we listen to them? We will listen if they come and share ideas with us. We value their ideas as long as the ideas help us move forward. I have seen scarecrows being used when people want to scare birds, but the birds have learned to stand on them and to do what they do best. [Interjections.]
The DA has demonstrated one thing to me, that even the issues they base their campaigns on become irrelevant when they enter Parliament. The reduction in the number of farms, which they claim is caused by the ANC, is caused by rich white farmers who purchase failing farms so that they can ensure that they make more profit, even up to 32% in terms of their net profit. If you are going to come here with your own views, go back and make sure that your economists inform you, because these figures are detailed in reports. It would not help us to come here and tell us that our policies are failing.
Deputy Minister Skwatsha has detailed the way the farms were taken from our own people. That is not what we are proposing. If I may refer to the people who wear red overalls, I think they should wear green overalls. In agriculture, we wear green overalls to make sure that we are productive. Africans were dispossessed by noNgqawuse, telling them that they must kill their cattle, then burn their produce - that something big was coming. This is what the EFF is telling people. They make a noise, because they lead nobody. Even my chickens would never accept that a hawk is a chicken. They would run away, because they would know that a hawk can never be a chicken. [Interjections.]
For instance, if you had attended all the meetings and had listened, you would have heard the EFF members behave like "phala ya Morena". They read the line that Malema said in the first meeting. It is like a song in church that is sung by everybody.
The point that I am getting at is that we have met with farmers. In our last meeting with the Transvaal Agricultural Union of South Africa they agreed with us that change must happen. They wanted to provide input. Yesterday, I received their input, and I respect it, not like the DA, who said that if we changed the land formulation, the world would cry foul. If the DA comes and says that, it means that they had not met with any farmers. The farmers we have met with say that we should make sure, when we do all of these things, their voices are heard, and we listen to them.
I can tell you even on the Fishing Rights Allocation Process issue - which is in court according to the DA - the DA would not tell you that our oceans are extorted by only four companies. They won't tell us that! I can tell you that the DA is being economical with the truth when they say that co- operatives cannot function. From 1948, the apartheid government had white farmers assisted through co-operatives. [Applause.] Why won't they work now? Tell the people of the Western Cape who come to us and say that they want co-operatives that! Tell them, because when you go there and campaign; you don't tell them what you know.
I saw something when I was young. When guys from the rural areas come to town and find guys wearing their shorts above their bums, they wear theirs below, because they want to become better tsotsis. [Laughter.] I have seen guys who joined parties after democracy and that they fight more for those parties. If you want to know the DA, read the book by Maloka, Friends of the Natives: The Inconvenient Past of South African Liberalism. Then you will know the essence of liberalisation and the issue of individualism that they preach.
We will change things in agriculture. We will speak to people. My chief amongst us today, your presence I cherish, because we have engaged all chiefs and planned meetings with all the kings. We won't do things above them. Municipalities, you are part of the programme. Provinces are part of the programme. Together with the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, we are like twins. We will share the profits and claim victories together. No farm will lie fallow because it has been changed. We will make sure that it succeeds. We don't listen to people who come here and say that the world is about to fall. Don't listen to them. Let's move forward and build. They can sing the only song they know. Please do not listen to them. They do not know what their people are saying. We will prove them wrong.
There is racism in the Knysna forest. We are going there to change that. [Applause.] When farmers pay their workers a decent wage, as I do my lone worker, who looks after 15 head of cattle, there will be peace on the farms. We are concerned about the killing of farmers, and we will do something, because we care.
Ons sal met julle saamwerk. Baie dankie. [We will work with you. Thank you very much.] [Applause.]