SA's land reform policies are about to get heavier
28 Jun 2012 13:52 - Nickolaus Bauer
Agriculture Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson has revealed South Africa will pursue far more radical land reform policies in the future. Agriculture Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson has revealed that South Africa will pursue far more radical land reform policies in the future.
Speaking on the sidelines of the ANC policy conference in Midrand, Joemat-Pettersson told the Mail & Guardian the meeting's sectoral commission on land reform and rural development was "spirited" but "sober".
"We have no choice but to speed up land reform as a matter of urgency. The economic future of this country depends on how this is dealt with," she said.
Joemat-Pettersson said there would be "some real changes" in the land reform policies employed in South Africa.
"The policies employed going forward will alter the way we do things now but will be done in such a way that our food security won't be threatened – that is of paramount importance.
We also can't undermine the current value of all our white farmers," she said.
Joemat-Pettersson said this did not mean changing constitutional laws governing land ownership.
"We don't need to change the Constitution to reach our land reform goals. We just need to change the way we implement the Constitution," she said.
'Not working'
President Jacob Zuma's opening address at the conference was a further indication there would be land reform changes. He said the current policy of "willing buyer – willing seller" needed to be changed because it was "not working".
Land ownership is a thorny issue with government claiming up to 87% of South Africa's agricultural land is still in the hands of white farmers.
Government's original plan to have 30% of disputed arable land diverted back to the black majority by 1999 has failed.
Section 25 of the Constitution states land must be expropriated "within law" and for an "equitable price".
These comments come at a time of heightened tension surrounding land reform.
The Democratic Alliance this week laid criminal charges against ANC Youth League deputy president Ronald Lamola after he claimed "Zimbabwe style" land invasions were on the cards if government did not speed up land restitution to blacks.
Labels: LAND REFORM, TINA JOEMAT-PETTERSSON
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ANC introduces new policy on land restitution
30 Jun 2012 13:33 - Niren Tolsi
The ANC announced at its policy conference that the party plans to do away with its "willing seller, willing buyer" policy for land restitution. Delegates celebrate at the ANC national policy conference in Midrand, Gauteng. (Oupa Nkosi, M&G)
Its new policy will be based directly on section 25 of the Constitution which states that expropriation of land must be accompanied by compensation that is "just and equitable".
Expropriation is also only allowed by the Constitution if it is
in "the public interest" or for
a "public purpose".
Agriculture Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersen told a press briefing after the close of conference on Friday night that the Valuer General would decide on the price of land that would be expropriated and that if there would be "recourse to the courts" if deals were not concluded.
Joemat-Pettersen added that there would also be a "use-it or lose-it" policy in relation to agricultural land that was not in production and that land that had already been restituted to communities "could also be lost".
Balance of evidence
The conference had also decided "expropriation without compensation will only happen when land is acquired illegally" and that courts would have to decide on which land was acquired illegally and in a "nefarious manner".
According to the agriculture minister, the determination of illegally acquired land would "depend on the balance of evidence".
"We are impatient and we want section 25 [of the constitution] implemented," said Joemat-Pettersen, adding that, accordingly, the "Expropriation Act must be amended, fast-tracked and must be passed" by parliament.
This is, however, only likely to happen after the ANC's elective conference in Mangaung in December this year. Currently, the policy conference's decision is only a recommendation which will become official party policy that can feed government policy if it is confirmed as a resolution at Mangaung.
South Africa established a land reform and restitution programme in 1998 to address the forced removal of people from land through the 1913 Land Act and during apartheid, but it has suffered from severe backlogs.
Backlogs
An extra R2.3-billion was pumped into the programme last year to partially deal with the backlogs.
Joemat-Pettersen also announced that a land audit was to be completed by December this year.
The conference also recommended that small-scale farmers be aided with government-sponsored agricultural equipment and seeds.
While no restitution targets had been set, the minister said the "main focus is the utilisation of land."
It was also announced that there would be a re-opening of land claims "specifically for the Khoi San people" who had until 2013 to lodge land claims.
The decision will be considered a significant victory for the Khoi San communities that have been gaining socio-political momentum since a 2009 United Nations declaration that they were the aboriginal inhabitants of southern Africa.
Labels: ANC, LAND REFORM, TINA JOEMAT-PETTERSSON
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COMMENT - Further reading material:
The Big Box Swindle or
Wal-Mart - The High Cost Of Low Price.
Walmart merger will devastate SA job market, says government
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Oct 05 2011 07:11
Walmart's acquisition of Massmart will have a "potentially devastating" effect on local jobs, three government departments said on Tuesday.
The transaction should be sent back to the Competition Tribunal for proper consideration and more effective conditions to be imposed, the departments of agriculture, forestry and fisheries; economic development; and trade and industry said in a statement.
The three departments filed their heads of argument on Wednesday in the Walmart-Massmart merger case.
"Government has argued that the merging parties will increase imports, relying on Walmart's vast and extensive international procurement capability," said Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel.
"We are concerned that tens of thousands of jobs could be lost in the local factories that currently supply Massmart and other local retailers.
"We have intervened in the proceedings as government to support local jobs and industrial capacity in South Africa," said Patel.
The minister of economic development was bound by the law and the constitution to intervene in the proceedings to ensure realisation of the objectives of the Competition Act.
Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said there was no evidence that Massmart would create 15 000 jobs because of the merger, as it had advertised.
"The tribunal failed to take into account the enormity of the likely impact of the proposed merger on the South African economy.
"It will result in the closure of many SMMEs [small and medium enterprises] and firms owned by historically disadvantaged individuals. The country's manufacturing base could be further eroded and that capability, once lost, would take many years to win back," said Davies.
Agriculture Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson said the implications of a displacement of local suppliers by Massmart would result in lost income and most likely the loss of jobs.
It appeared that in some industries this had already taken place since the merger, she said.
"Olive farmers in some parts of the country have been advised that they should no longer expect orders from Makro [a subsidiary of Massmart] for locally produced olive oil, as they intend to import cheaper products.
"If unchecked the shift to imports is likely to have a catastrophic effect on local farmers and agro-processing manufacturers," said Joemat-Pettersson.
The three departments said government had asked the court to send the matter back to the Competition Tribunal for a more considered evaluation based on adequate information from the merger parties with a view to much stronger conditions being imposed.
The review and appeal was expected to be heard in the Competition Appeal Court on October 20 and 21. -- Sapa
Labels: JOBS, NEOLIBERALISM, TINA JOEMAT-PETTERSSON
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Minister talks farmers' language
YOLANDI GROENEWALD | JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Oct 14 2010 18:10
From the moment she started addressing AgriSA's annual conference in Afrikaans she had delegates eating out her hand. "Boer is no longer a swear word," Tina Joemat-Pettersson, the Agriculture Minister, told the farmers, whose grins grew broader as she outlined her vision for farming.
"South Africa is your country. Your forebears are buried here and you are South Africans." "At last we've got a minister who speaks our language," a delighted delegate said after the speech at last week's indaba in Muldersdrift.
And Joemat-Pettersson's charm offensive seems to be about more than just language symbolism and back-patting. Farmers say she is fighting hard to open new markets for them in non-traditional areas such as China and Africa.
But she is equally adamant about empowering black farmers and remains committed to transferring 30% of white-owned farmland to blacks in five years' time.
The romance has had its rocky moments, most notably when AgriSA walked out of the Farmworkers' Summit at the end of July after claiming that its views were being sidelined because of a political agenda.
But last week it seemed that the hatchet had been buried. In her speech Joemat-Pettersson said the government's land-reform drive left little room for white farmers to grow locally and that was why she was looking at opening up new markets.
For a minister, she is extremely accessible. In an interview this week she said that agriculture is "not about emerging black farmers versus white commercial farmers".
"The developmental agenda of the state is not only about the ANC's constituency," she said. "It is about the country and that includes commercial farmers. They're very much part of South Africa's economy.
"We are all the same coin, though there may be different sides to it. It's not about calling heads or tails and tails lose. It's senseless polishing the coin on the one side and neglecting the other."
Joemat-Pettersson said agriculture needs strong commercial farmers whose success would help to develop and uplift smallholder farmers.
She acknowledged that in the past the mentorship programme has not been a success and smallholder farmers need more skills.
"We acknowledge that closing the agricultural colleges was a mistake. We are reopening them and we need commercial farmers' input to make them work and reskill black farmers through training."
She said her department is "vociferously" trying to bridge the gap between commercial farmers and black smallholder farmers. Black farmers are impatient, she said, and rightly so.
"But we are trying to fix now what should've been fixed a long time ago. And, yes, we do admit that the department still has a long way to go."
She said communication with both farming sectors is critical. "If you explain the challenges that the department faces to them, they are more likely to understand."
If South Africans are to be empowered all the country's resources need to be managed well and that includes managing the expectations of its people, Joemat-Pettersson said. "This includes the expectations and fears of white commercial farmers.
"As one of our biggest challenges, it's important to deal with land reform collectively."
The growing love affair between the government and commercial farmers was highlighted when AgriSA rented a stall at the ANC's national general council in Durban last month.
AgriSA president Johannes Möller said that he did not mind paying R25 000 for a stall that gave him access to the ANC's leaders. "I accomplished more here than in my work over the whole year," he was quoted saying.
The commercial farmers' major beef remains the controversial green paper on land reform that proposes radical intervention by the government.
The green paper is meant to inform new land reform legislation currently being drafted by the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform.
Though the Agriculture Department is not directly involved in this, Joemat-Pettersson's department will make a critical input into the Cabinet cluster because of the legislation's implications for agriculture.
Farmers interviewed after the conference said they expect her to be a voice of reason.
In Durban Möller said he hopes that the delay in presenting the green paper shows that there are moves to tone it down.
The farmers' unions hope that Joemat-Pettersson is among those pressing for moderation. The legislation is due to be presented to Cabinet in the next month.
Gritty reform options mooted
The department of rural development and land reform has repeatedly postponed the tabling of the land reform green paper, but the latest draft, leaked to the media this week, continues to propose the scrapping of the willing-buyer, willing-seller approach to land redistribution.
The paper insists that the cost of land reform is too high and that with its meagre budget, it cannot not afford the necessary land.
The Mail & Guardian's sources indicate that this may be the final draft and that the department is proposing three options to replace the willing-buyer, willing-seller principle.
One is more aggressive expropriation, while a second calls for the valuation of farms based on production rather than market value. The third option is a statutory discount for government on the farms it purchases.
The paper also proposes a land tax as a way of making more land available at lower prices. However, it warns that such a tax should be well formulated to minimise harm and be directed mainly at owners of large tracts of land.
It also suggests that foreigners should be prohibited from owning land in certain (unspecified) areas.
The paper warns that all interventions must pass constitutional muster, while admitting that there are differences between different ANC constituencies on the legislation.
Labels: LAND REFORM, LAND RIGHTS, TINA JOEMAT-PETTERSSON
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