Opinion | Successful land reform requires landowners, not tenants of the state

Last week, Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Thoko Didiza announced that the state will release about 700 000 hectares of underutilized or vacant state land for agricultural land reform. Specifically, previously disadvantaged South Africans will be able to apply to lease 896 farms owned by the state.

On the face of it, this is a potentially major step in South Africa’s quest to achieve a more equitable redistribution of land. These 700 000 hectares is a large amount of land, comprising roughly the same area as has been redistributed in the past decade.

President Ramaphosa lauded this decision in his newsletter this week, rightly remarking of the 1913 Land Act that “by depriving our people of their right to own and work the land on which they depended for sustenance and livelihood, this great injustice engineered the poverty of black South Africans”.

The Democratic Alliance has consistently called on government to release unused or underused state land for land reform. However, the key word in the above quote is “own”. Land reform will only be successful if it changes patterns of land ownership. And yet the government appears intent on leasing state land, including that acquired through expropriation without compensation, rather than transferring full ownership to previously disadvantaged South Africans.

Can land even be said to have been “redistributed” if it remains in the ownership of the state?

Government’s reluctance to grant emerging farmers full tenure of the land they work undermines South Africa’s land reform project, engineering the continued poverty of black South Africans and continued skewed ownership patterns.

Although there is a stated option for lease beneficiaries to buy the land, government has in fact displayed a marked reluctance in the past to transfer ownership. Perhaps best known is the case of David Rakgase, who last year secured a landmark judgement when the Pretoria high court ruled as irrational and unconstitutional the government’s refusal to sell land to him, the land he had been farming successfully for 27 years. Mr Rakgase finally owns the land he farms. This is the kind of land reform we need in South Africa.

The Democratic Alliance has long argued that beneficiaries of land reform should be full owners, through having full tenure and title to the land they work. We believe successful land reform requires secure private property rights. Full ownership sets emerging farmers up for success with both the collateral and incentive they need to invest in their land and make it productive. It protects rights, builds intergenerational wealth and promotes prospects for self-reliance, independence and economic prosperity.

Minister Didiza’s plan is that beneficiaries will sign a non-transferable lease agreement with the state and pay a rental fee consistent with the land value. A long enough lease could be used for collateral, except these leases are specifically non-transferable, conferring no security to the farmer since the farm can be repossessed at the whim of the state. Insecure tenancy sets emerging farmers up for failure and will more likely entrench rather than dispel the false “stereotype that only white farmers are successful in South Africa”.

Leasehold on these terms is a feudal, paternalistic approach that does little to change patterns of agricultural land ownership and much to grow patronage opportunities for the state. Let us hope this announcement is not just a political ploy, an electoral ruse to give the illusion of empowerment, while in fact growing patronage power for the state. Certainly, the process undertaken to identify beneficiaries needs to be transparent and fulfil the constitutional requirement for equitable access. This cannot be yet more enrichment opportunities for a connected elite.

Take the case of Lulama and Nothandekile Kapa, a farmworker-turned-farmer couple who have been farming a piece of state-owned land in the Eastern Cape without a lease for the past 31 years. They have been trying unsuccessfully now for a decade to get the government to formally lease the land to them. Despite having no formal tenure, their farming operation is flourishing. Far from supporting the Kapas to lease the land they work the government has more recently tried to shift them off the farm in favour of an ANC-linked family.

But even if government’s intentions are sincere, South Africa should pursue an ownership model over leasehold. A leasing arrangement of the sort proposed by Minister Didiza requires an honest, capable state to administer this programme ongoing. Yet her department lacks the capacity to do so, as per Judge Edwin Cameron’s assessment of it last year when he stated “it has displayed a patent incapacity to get the job done” and “the department’s tardiness and inefficiency in making land reform and restitution real has triggered what rightly can be called a constitutional near-emergency”. And indeed, many emerging farmers have received letters to vacate their leased state land, for no clear reason. Many others still have no lease at all.

Although government claims a redistributive vision which implies broadening land ownership, its commitment to leasing state land (and to the policy of expropriating private land to the state without compensation and then leasing it) will in fact concentrate land ownership in the state and deter private investment in land productivity.

Successful land reform is so important for South Africa, not only to promote economic prosperity and food security, but to heal the deep divisions of our unjust past. I urge South Africans to reject this model of tenancy dependent on an all-powerful state and instead to support one of broad-based ownership with secure private property rights.

Duisende onderteken die DA se brief aan President Ramaphosa: Landelike gemeenskappe het genoeg gehad!

Vind aangeheg ‘n klankgreep deur die DA se Skaduminister vir Landbou, Annette Steyn LP.

Die Demokratiese Alliansie (DA) se versoekskrif, aangeheg by ons-ope brief aan president Cyril Ramaphosa, is tot op hede deur byna 55 000 Suid-Afrikaners onderteken.

Hierdie versoekskrif, wat in Julie van stapel gestuur is, vra die President om verskoning te vra vir sy onware en kwetsende opmerkings in ‘n onderhoud in 2018, toe hy ontken het dat plaasmoorde in Suid-Afrika plaasvind. Ons het hom versoek om dringend op te tree ten opsigte van die ewige vrees en gevaar waarin ons landelike mans en vroue woon en werk terwyl hulle die voedsel wat ons eet, verbou.

Dit kan nie wees dat die Regering en die President hul blind hou vir die lot van boere, plaaswerkers, hul ouers, vrouens en kinders wat wrede, sinnelose en dikwels dodelike marteling ondergaan nie.

Dit kan nie wees dat ‘n 80-jarige vrou op haar plaas in Zastron aangeval word deur ‘n gevangene wat deur die Minister van Justisie vrygelaat is nie.

Dit kan nie wees dat hierdie president nié die Minister van Polisie, Bheki Cele, se verregaande opmerkings aan boere in KwaZulu-Natal of die grusame dood van die 21-jarige Brendin Horner op ‘n Paul Roux-plaas in die Vrystaat verwerp nie.

Die voorsitter van die portefeuljekomitee vir polisie, Tina Joemat-Pettersson, het tydens haar toespraak tydens die DA-debat van nasionale belang beweer dat plaasmoorde en plaasaanvalle nog altyd ‘n prioriteit vir die ANC-regering was. Van wanneer af? Die President het dan gedurende die berugte 2018-onderhoud ten sterkste ontken dat plaasmoorde bestaan ​​het.

Geweld in landelike gebiede het deur die jare geleidelik toegeneem en wrede, lewensveranderende aanvalle op plase is gemiddeld 50 per maand. In plaas daarvan om in te gryp, het die regering verkies om gespesialiseerde eenhede te ontbind en landelike gemeenskappe kwesbaar en alleen gelaat. Dit blyk as landelike veiligheid slegs afhanklik was van die politieke wil van die Minister van Polisie en die President, niks ooit gedoen sal word nie.

Soveel as wat geweld nooit geweld moet verwek nie, toon die betoging in Senekal hierdie week duidelik dat plaasmoorde en -aanvalle emosies op ‘n kookpunt het, en dit neem nie veel vir sommige lede van ‘n vreedsame betoging om hulle tot geweld te wend om hul frustrasie en woede uit te druk nie .

Soveel as wat die boere self probeer om hul gesinne en die lewens van diegene wat op hul plase werk te beskerm, is die werklikheid dat dit nie meer ‘n kwessie is van “Is u al aangeval” nie, maar “Wanneer sal u aangeval word”. Die President moet toesien dat die regering dringend optree. Hierdie landelike aanvalle moet geklassifiseer word as prioriteitsmisdade sowel as haatmisdade.

Tensy dit gebeur, kan ons Suid-Afrikaners moontlik saam met Zimbabwe ‘n bedelbakkie hou vir kos.

Die DA vind die aankondiging van die nasionale kommissaris van die Suid-Afrikaanse polisie, generaal Khehla Sitole, dat die Suid-Afrikaanse polisiediens (SAPD) nasionale en plaaslike gesamentlike kommandosentrums vir landelike veiligheid in landelike gebiede regoor Suid-Afrika sal vestig, so bemoedigend. Dit is die eerste positiewe, pro-aktiewe stap wat ons van die polisie gesien het.

Boerdery is ‘n ongelooflike gevaarlike en stresvolle beroep. Die konstante vrees wat boere van alle rasse en werknemers van alle rasse in Suid-Afrika ervaar, is amper ondraaglik.

Aangesien daar geen reaksie van die President op ons ope brief was nie, sal die DA hierdie brief direk aan hom stuur en die versoekskrif aan die Parlement lewer. Dit is tyd dat die president die plaag van plaasmoorde in Suid-Afrika prioritiseer. Hy moet hom ophou blind hou, dringend optree en sy werk doen.

Laai die brief en versoekskrif af by die volgende skakels:

stopplaasaanvalle.co.za of stopfarmattacks.co.za

Thousands of signatures on DA’s letter to President shows those living in rural areas have had enough

 Please find attached a soundbite by Dianne Kohler Barnard MP. 

The Democratic Alliance’s (DA) petition attached to our open letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa has received almost 55 000 signatures to date. This petition, launched in July, called for the President to apologize for his untrue and hurtful remarks in a 2018 interview, when he denied that farm murders were taking place in South Africa.  We called on him to take urgent action regarding the perpetual fear and danger our rural men and women live and work in as they grow the very food we eat.

It cannot be that the Government and Parliament continue to turn a blind eye to the plight of farmers, farmworkers, their parents, wives, and children who suffer cruel, senseless and often deadly torture at the hands of criminals.

It cannot be that an 80-year old woman is attacked on her farm in Zastron by a prisoner released by the Minister of Justice. She was left for dead across the border in Lesotho.

It cannot be that this President fails to so much as acknowledge the Minister of Police, Bheki Cele’s outrageous comments to the Normandien-farmers in KwaZulu-Natal or the gruesome death of  21-year-old Brendin Horner on a Paul Roux-farm in the Free State.

During her speech at the DA Debate of National Importance the Chairperson of the Police Portfolio Committee, Tina Joemat-Pettersson, claimed that farm murders and farm attacks have always been a priority for the ANC government. Since when? The President categorically denied that farm murders existed during that infamous 2018 interview.

Violence in rural areas has been steadily increasing over the years, and vicious, life-altering attacks on farms today are on average 50 per month.  Instead of intervening, the government chose to dissolve specialised units and left rural communities vulnerable and alone. It seems that if rural safety were solely dependent on the political will of the Minister of Police and the President, nothing will ever be done.

As much as violence should never beget violence, the protest in Senekal clearly shows that farm murders and attacks have emotions at a boiling point, and it does not take much for some members of a peaceful protest to turn to violence to express their frustration and anger.

As much as the farmers themselves try to protect their families and the lives of those working on their farms, the reality is that it is no longer a question of “Have you ever been attacked” but “When will you be attacked”. We need the President to step up and ensure that the government finally comes to the party.   These rural attacks must be classified as Priority Crimes as well as hate crimes . Cele must be overruled.

Unless this is done, we South Africans might well join Zimbabwe in holding out a begging bowl for food.

The DA finds the National Commissioner of the South African Police, General Khehla Sitole’s announcement that the South African Police Service (SAPS) will establish national and local Joint Rural Safety Command Centres in rural areas across South Africa, so encouraging.  It is the first positive, pro-active move we have seen on the part of the police.

Farming is already an incredibly dangerous and stressful vocation. The constant fear felt by farmers of all races, and employees of all races in South Africa has nearly unbearable.

Since there has been no response from the President on our open letter, the DA will send this letter to him directly, and deliver the petition to Parliament. It is time the President prioritised the scourge of farm murders in South Africa. Turning a blind eye, ignoring his duty as the leader of our nation, has ended in bloodshed and violence.  He must man-up and do his job.

The links to the petition are attached here: stopplaasaanvalle.co.za or stopfarmattacks.co.za.

DA reports EFF’s Malema and Paulsen to Ethics Committee over tweets inciting violence

The Democratic Alliance (DA) will refer the EFF leader, Julius Malema, and EFF Member of Parliament, Nazier Paulsen, to Parliament’s Ethics Committee over recent social media posts which appear to incite violence.

On Wednesday, Malema tweeted “Magwala a chechele morago! (Cowards move to the back) Fighters attack!”, in response to the incident of violence at the Senekal Magistrate’s Court where the two accused in the murder of Brendin Horner appeared. Paulsen later posted a picture with a machine gun and a caption which read “Get ready!”.

The DA condemns these tweets for what they are – a blatant attempt by the EFF leadership to recklessly incite even further violence at this time. This type of behaviour is deplorable, especially coming from Members of Parliament who have a responsibility to uphold the rule of law and the principles which underpin our Constitution.

We call on peace-loving South Africans not take cues from people who thrive on hate and division. South Africa finds itself in an increasingly fragile and volatile state and to overcome this we need strong and united leaders.

Any person who incites violence and encourages the destruction of property should be apprehended and condemned. We cannot allow anyone who stirs up violence among our people to go unchallenged.

The DA urges the Ethics Committee to investigate both Malema and Paulsen’s tweets and conduct. For a party that has thousands of followers on social media, such conduct is highly irresponsible.

DA to seek full transparency on National Arts Council’s failure to pay beneficiaries

The Democratic Alliance (DA) will submit parliamentary questions to the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture to ascertain whether the National Arts Council’s (NAC) failure to pay 25% of funding due to its beneficiaries constitutes an unlawful breach of contracts. We will further ask for full details of the contracts so that we can find out which contracts have not been paid in full.

This follows a revelation that the Office of the Public Protector is currently investigating the NAC’s failure to pay beneficiaries.

Given the NAC’s track record, the DA is of the view that the answers to our parliamentary questions could reveal that the NAC has failed to fulfil its obligations to beneficiaries.

In light of the Public Protector’s remedial action against NAC CEO Rosemary Mangope on allegations of her abuse of power, gross maladministration and unethical conduct, should the NAC be guilty of a breach of contract, this will be another major indictment on Ms Mangope and will bring the questions of her fitness for office back on the table.

The NAC has a mandate to support South Africa’s arts, and the beneficiaries in question entered in a contract with the NAC pre-Covid-19, meaning there was a budget allocated for their funding.

While the Covid -19 restrictions may have presented a challenge for the beneficiaries’ projects to be made in totality, the NAC cannot use Covid-19 as the main excuse, as it is one of the entities that received relief funding for Covid-19.

The DA recognises the suffering of artists due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The continued failure of the NAC to fulfil its mandate and disperse funds accordingly is a challenge that the DA has always sought to address.

We maintain our view that the NAC could be in a much better position if it was run by a more capable individual without all these serious allegations against them

Corruption does not keep office hours, but government’s anti-corruption hotline does

The Democratic Alliance (DA) can reveal that the operating hours of the government’s much vaunted anti-corruption hotline has been reduced to the point where the hotline is now only available to whistleblowers and members of the public during office hours on weekdays. During a recent meeting of the portfolio committee on public service and administration, the Public Service Commission (PSC) – the custodian of the hotline – said that members of the public are now only able to report corruption on “five days per week and eight hours per day.”

Despite the limited working hours and as a result of the explosion in looting carried out by ANC cadres, the anti-corruption hotline received 1 591 complaints over the past financial year. However, in a clear indication of how the government is starving the PSC and the anti-corruption hotline of resources, only 64 cases were ultimately investigated by the PSC. At national level, only 18 officials were found guilty of misconduct, of which only two were dismissed.

By starving the anti-corruption hotline of funding, the ANC government has effectively rendered it toothless in the fight against escalating looting. As a result, whistleblowers and desperate members of the public are now met by the hollow voice of an answering machine if they call after hours or over weekends. The effect is to severely limit the number of corruption cases that are reported and investigated because, as PSC Commissioner Michael Seloane told the committee, “people usually don’t call while they are at work. They call after hours.”

The DA has been reliably informed that the anti-corruption hotline operated 24/7 until 31 December 2016, when the government terminated its contract with an outsourced service provider. This was despite the fact that the PSC had warned the government that it lacked the funds to operate the hotline around the clock. Consequently, for the past three years, the anti-corruption hotline has kept office hours while corruption exploded.

Of course, limiting the ability of the PSC and the anti-corruption hotline to stem the rising tide of corruption suits the criminals in the ANC like a glove, leading to the suspicion that the government has deliberately starved the hotline of the funding it needs to operate effectively.

The DA will use the upcoming term in parliament to ramp-up our fight to ensure that the PSC anti-corruption hotline is adequately funded. Because ANC corruption never rests, the DA will also not rest until the hotline is available to brave whistleblowers and members of the public for 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.

High time Ace answered for his actions

The Democratic Alliance (DA) notes the conflicting reports regarding a warrant of arrest for ANC Secretary General (SG) Ace Magashule.

Whether Ace Magashule’s arrest is imminent or not, it would appear from evidence from various credible sources that his hands have been in the cookie jar, and it is high time he is held to account for the numerous allegations of misdeeds over the years.

These include:

  • The controversial Gupta-linked R185 million Vrede Dairy Project signed into fruition in the Office of the Premier.
  • Allegations that he might have used a portion of the proceeds of an “asbestos audit” awarded by the Free State Department of Human Settlement in 2014 worth R230 million to fund party political business.
  • During the extended Covid-19 lockdown, Magashule was drawn into a PPE tender scandal when it came to light that various of his associates in the Free State benefited from PPE contracts awarded to them.
  • His sons, Tshepiso and Thato, received contracts worth R2.7 billion for supplying goods and services during the Covid-19 pandemic.
  • There are allegations that he flouted tender procurement processes to ensure that a Chinese company, Unital Holdings, linked to his daughter, Thoko Malembe, received a R70 million contract to oversee the Vogelfontein RDP housing development project in Bethlehem.
  • It was under Magashule’s watch that R120 million were paid to contractors of the Ramkraal project that was allegedly never intended to be completed.
  • Then there are reports of Vodacom being strong-armed by Magashule during his Free State premiership to engage with local partners that were linked with him.
  • It was also Magashule who famously told News24 that “no leader in the ANC had not done business with government.”

As shocking as these allegations are, this is by no means an exhaustive list. During his time as Free State Premier, Magashule governed the province as though it was his own personal fiefdom.

The DA has long called for Magashule to have his day in court and now is the time for the chickens to come home to roost.

Magashule is far from the only comrade in the ANC to have engaged in dodgy dealings. There are many others, like Deputy President David Mabusa, Nomvula Mokonyane, and ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe who need to face the music as well.

The ANC has been a safe haven for crooks and criminals for too long, and there seems to be no end to this in sight under President Cyril Ramaphosa.

CSA agrees to release long-overdue forensic report following DA pressure

The Cricket South Africa (CSA) board today committed to releasing its long-overdue forensic report into the organization’s administration by Friday. The board made this commitment today during a meeting of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee of Sports, Arts and Culture, where they were expected to share the contents of the forensic report.

Following months of dithering the CSA board has finally succumbed to pressure from the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Committee to make the report available by Friday.

Questions have been raised on numerous occasions about the initial refusal to keep the contents of the forensic report from the public and Parliament.  The DA has consistently held the view that if CSA had nothing to hide, this report would have been published a long time ago.

The reality is that cricket administration in South Africa is in shambles and is facing a financial crisis, administrative challenges and poor leadership. CSA cannot then expect Parliament to simply turn a blind eye to these problems. It is only sensible that the contents of the forensic report be in public domain.

The DA is deeply disappointed by CSA’s delaying tactics and the disregard it has demonstrated towards Parliament as an oversight authority.

We will continue to hold CSA to its word and will await the long-overdue release of this report by Friday.

Minister Nkoana-Mashabane admits there’s no budget for the National Council of Gender-Based Violence and Femicide

The Minister of Womxn, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, has today conceded that there is no budget to fund the establishment of the National Council of Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (NCGBVF) and there is no timeframe on the legislation of the National Strategic Plan (NSP) to combat gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF). The Minister revealed this during a meeting of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Womxn, Youth and Persons with Disabilities today.

It is concerning to the Democratic Alliance (DA) that 7 months after the adoption of the NSP, the Department of Womxn, Youth and Persons with Disabilities (DWYPD) has failed to secure and ring-fence the budget and additional resources needed in order to ensure implementation. Especially in light of the fact that National Treasury has already allocated R5 million to the establishment of the NCGBVF.

The NSP outlines the establishment of the NCGBVF in Chapter 5 and is also outlined in Article 4 of the Presidential Declaration Against GBVF in 2019. The role of the NCGBVF is essentially to ensure that the NSP is implemented, monitored and evaluated.

The need to address the scourge of GBVF cannot simply be a talk shop or a tick-box exercise. There must be a clear plan on implementation of strategies, a clear timeframe attached to the implementation plan and a concise monitoring and evaluation plan, in order to hold key Departments accountable.

It is unacceptable that womxn and members of the LGBTQIA+ community continue to be left alone in the cold, murdered and abused, while the government drags its feet.

It is worth noting that the legislating of the NCGBVF has not even started. It would seem as though between the DWYPD and the Department of Justice, this process of legislation is not a priority. The lack of legislation will make it very difficult to ensure the implementation of the NSP, that Departments are held accountable and to fight the scourge of GBVF on the ground. It is one thing to have a policy on paper, it is another thing to have this policy legislated.

The DA urges Minister Nkoana-Mashabane to ensure that there is adequate budget given to the implementation of the NSP and the establishment of the NCGBVF as well as ensuring that the legislation related to all GBVF issues be done speedily and brought to Parliament without delay.

DA shows support to Horner family and farmers at Senekal gathering

A diverse group of Democratic Alliance (DA) members attended the gathering at Senekal today together with hundreds of other people from across the Free State and the country to express support for the family of Brendin Horner who was brutally and senselessly murdered on a farm near Paul Roux last Friday. The DA was also there to demonstrate outrage at the continuous criminal attacks on our farming community.

The DA regards both the owners of farms and their employees as farmers. Brendin Horner, who worked on a farm, paid the ultimate price for his choice of career as a young South African farmer. Crime continues to be one of the most serious security and economic threats to our farming community. Crimes on farms that include murder and rape are already treated as a costly low intensity war by the agricultural community and should be recognised as such by government.

The DA’s presence in Senekal is also a tribute to all our farmers who generate the agricultural commodities that are used to produce our food and clothing through their sweat and toil, and very often also through blood and tears. Our farmers who ensure our food security are national assets who deserve the respect of a grateful nation and the protection of their government.

The DA understand the emotions of a violent death of a young person and the frustrations people have with the criminal justice system. The DA will not react to violent outbursts and will continue to be the voice of reason.