OFFICIAL POLICY POSITION OF NERPO ON LAND AND AGRARIAN REFORM
28 Jul 2005
The South African democratic government has since 1994, adopted a land reform programme that is made up of three pillars: i.e. Land Restitution, Land Redistribution, and Land Tenure Reform. Owing to the need for transformation, constitutional/legislative review, political and economic stability, the programme was based on the principles and values of government’s economic policy, the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP).
The National Emergent Red Meat Producers Organisation (NERPO) holds a firm view that the principle under which the land reform programme was adopted is well founded. However, NERPO has noted that after 10 years of democracy and freedom; that:
I. No significant number of black individuals have gained access to viable commercial, agricultural land;
II. The few individuals who have managed to gain access to agricultural land have not been commercially successful due to lack of aftercare support and backup;
III. Despite the newly promulgated Communal Land Rights Act (Act. No.11 of 2004), the management and control of the communal grazing allotments has not improved, resulting to little or no significant contribution of the communal farming system to agricultural development;
IV. Not withstanding the acceptable pace of land restitution programme, there is a high failure rate of land restitution projects due to lack of post-settlement support, social conflicts and uneconomical farming units relative to the number of beneficiaries. These factors result to non-profitable agricultural enterprises and collapse of such projects;
V. All government land reform programmes that were established under sound principles have been seriously abused by bankrupt, white commercial farmers who exorbitantly price their properties; and
VI. Due to non-existence of a policy or legislation to regulate acquisition of land by foreigners in South Africa, access to commercial agricultural land is systematically denied as a result of high land prices that are pushed by foreign buyers, making it practically impossible for ordinary South African emerging farmers to acquire such land.
In view of the huge imbalances that still exists between the pace and the impact of Land Reform Programme, NERPO proposes the following for submission at the National Land Summit, to be held at NASREC, between 27th and 31st July 2005; that:
I. The Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development Programme (LRAD), which was established with the intention of assisting the previously disadvantaged individuals to have access to commercial agricultural land, must be reviewed to ensure successful commercial farm production;
II. Due to lengthy bureaucratic government processes, the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Affairs must invite strategic partners, particularly commodity associations according to areas of expertise to assist in expediting and adding value to LRAD programme;
III. NERPO appreciates the promulgation of the Communal Land Rights Act (Act. No. 11 of 2004), however, an urgent need to implement the appropriate sections of the Act that will ensure the enforcement of the rule of law, proper management of grazing allotments and maintenance of the basic farm infrastructure in the rural farming areas, is required;
IV. Allocate adequate financial resources to land redistribution programmes and post-settlement support to beneficiaries of land restitution programme;
V. Review and if possible change the willing buyer willing seller policy, to a more reasonable and realistic approach that will not create bottlenecks on the pricing criteria and access to land as it always discourages potential black buyers. Agricultural land must be sold or bought at its productive value so as to avoid the abuse of the state grant schemes by sellers;
VI. Develop and implement monitoring and evaluation systems that will not only measure the pace of land reform in terms of the number and hectares of land transferred to beneficiaries, but its impact on agricultural development and production; and
VII. A policy framework and/or legislative measures should be in place to address the ownership of land by foreigners as it has proven to be one of the bottlenecks on access to land for agricultural development; and
VIII. The state expropriate all private agricultural land which is unused or kept for speculative purposes and such land be incorporated under the land redistribution programme.
End
Enquiries:
Mr. Aggrey Mahanjana
Group Managing Director
Tel : +27 (0) 12 361 9127
Fax : +27 (0) 12 361 4430
Cell : +27 (0) 82 556 7297
Or
Siyabulela Makunga
Manager: Marketing & Corporate Communications
Tel : +27 (0) 12 361 9127
Fax : +27 (0) 12 361 4430
Cell : +27 (0) 82 483 7155/ +27 (0) 83 677 8631
Email : siyabulelam@nerpo.org.za website www.nerpo.org.za
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