Cape Town – Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti has commended farmers who have voluntarily participated in the department’s programme which has seen farmers and farm workers splitting the ownership of commercial farms 50-50 between them.
The Minister thanked the farmers during a media briefing at the Imbizo Centre, in Cape Town, shortly after tabling the department’s Budget Vote in Parliament, on Tuesday.
“This programme, remember that the President had said in the 2013 State of the Nation Address that he is expecting that we would have piloted by the end of this term, by 2019, we would have piloted 50 of the farms.
“We already have 30 some odd that have come forward and we have processed more than 10 …
“It was people who came forward themselves and we appreciate people who come forward and say we want to form part of this,” he said.
Addressing Parliament during his Budget Vote speech, the Minister said as part of the Strengthening Relative Rights of People Working the Land (50/50 Policy Framework), 10 transactions have been finalised, with about 540 beneficiaries, covering 7 642 hectares.
More than 50 submissions from farmers and organisations have been received thus farm, he said.
The Minister said the implementation of the programme will be expedited in the period ahead, and that R500 million has been set aside for this purpose in the new financial year.
The Minister said the 50-50 co-ownership will also see experienced farmers playing a mentorship role to farmworkers and allow them to learn how to run farms as opposed to just working in them.
“What we want to achieve here, first of all, we want to demonstrate to all South Africans and the world that indeed the Mandela spirit is not dead in South Africa.
“It means now that the commercial farmers who have got experience in managing farms, operations, part of what they have to do is to assist with training,” he said.
Minister Nkwinti said the department has formed a strategic partnership with the National Empowerment Fund to oversee the processing of the transactions between farmers and farm owners.
The National Empowerment Fund CEO Philisiwe Mthethwa, who attended the media briefing, said her team has assisted with the transactions – from preparing transaction agreements, shareholder agreements, financial projections to assisting with the registration of the new business.
More than 140 000 land claims lodged
The Minister said after the re-opening of the second window of opportunity for the lodgement of land claims, a total of 143 720 claims have been lodged by 31st March 2016 with 27 696 claims lodged through the mobile lodgement offices.
Implementing the next phase of the Agri-Parks Programme
The Minister said the department is moving to the next phase of implementation of the Agri-Parks Programme across 44 district municipalities for food production, design and construction of new infrastructure.
He said R2 billion has been set aside for this purpose for the new financial year.
“In accelerating the pace of land reform we are allocating land to smallholder farmers and providing protection to vulnerable communities, including farm labourers and people working on farms.
“In this regard, an amount of R89 million has been allocated for providing legal and mediation support for land reform beneficiaries to promote security of tenure. An amount of R791 million has been set aside in this financial year for land acquisition in line with this objective,” he said. – SAnews.gov.za
