CHANGE SA's LAND OWNERSHIP LANDSCAPE OR FACE ZIMBABWE
30 Nov 2009
The Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, Mr. Gugile Nkwinti, has made a special plea to all South Africans to play their part in changing the landscape of land reform in South Africa or brace themselves for Zimbabwe’s economic and political instability.
“As a nation renowned for reconciliation, if we want to avoid the Zimbabwe economic and political situation, we need to collectively change the architecture of land ownership in South Africa. This is key to the country’s ability to achieve permanent peace and prosperity” he urged.
The Minister made his plea at the year-end function of the National Emergent Red Meat Producers’ Organization (NERPO), held in Pretoria on Friday 27 November 2009. At the same function Minister Gugile Nkwinti was officially introduced to the emerging livestock community. His sister Minister, Ms Tina Joematt-Petterson, could not attend due to prior government commitments.
Nkwinti was quick to remind South Africans that peace and prosperity are what its Chief Patron, Dr. Nelson Mandela and the current President, Mr. Jacob Zuma, wished to see happening. He further recalled the President’s view “that after 20 years in power, there will be no excuses for the ruling party if they fail to successfully redress the land question in South Africa. If we fail to do that, we would unfortunately find ourselves in the same position as Zimbabwe”.
In elaborating on how NERPO can co-operate with government in contributing towards a successful land reform programme, the Minister urged NERPO as well as white commercial farmers, to enter a fundamental dialogue on solutions to the challenges that have stifled successful land reform to date.
The Minister’s invitation for a ‘fundamental dialogue’ on land reform was willingly accepted by Mr. Aggrey Mahanjana, the Group Managing Director of NERPO.
“Measuring how land reform has negatively affected the productivity of agricultural land, it is true that we all need to work collectively to swiftly resolve the issue of land reform. As NERPO, we believe that we have a few remedial proposals that government can consider. We will take up the challenge as early as the beginning of next year to discuss all of these matters with the Minister” he said.
NERPO is the official mouthpiece of South Africa’s emerging livestock farmers.
End.
Enquiries
Aggrey Mahanjana
Group Managing Director: NERPO
Tel : 012 348 8071
Cell : 082 556 7297
Website: www.nerpo.org.za
Email: finance@nerpo.org.za
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