The Department of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries is currently developing a project in conjunction with the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR) to create Agri-parks in locations throughout South Africa. These Agri-parks aim to involve smallholders and local producers in the entire process of agriculture to address both food security and poverty. The Department hopes to fight issues such as the 14 million hungry South Africans, unused potential farmland, and the inequality between private agricultural business and the people.

The preservation, development and sustainable use of agricultural land are of vital importance to ensure longterm food security in South Africa. These principles of food security as well as an integrated, inclusive rural economy underpin the core focus areas of the National Development Plan, Vision 2030 (NDP).

The Committee received submissions from the Langa Livestock Farmers Association, The Congress of South African Trade Unions and its affiliate, the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union, the Legal Resources Centre and the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies on the second day of public hearings on the Recapitalisation and Development Programme (RADP).

The Committee was briefed by the Financial and Fiscal Commission (FFC) on the expenditure trends and performance of the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR) and its entities for 2014/15 and the first quarter of the 2015/16 financial year.

The Select Committee on Land and Mineral Resources having conducted oversight at the Council of Geosciences (CGS), the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) and Onderstepoort Biological Products (OBP), from 21 – 22 October 2014 reports as follows:

1. Background and Introduction

The Chairperson introduced the first day of public hearings on the Recapitalisation and Development Programme (RADP) in the agricultural sector by noting that the Committee had done oversight in the Northern Cape of the farms that were beneficiaries of the programme, and now wanted to hear the outcomes of the independent evaluation of the programme, and also hear from beneficiaries.

The Committee on Rural Development and Land Reform was briefed by the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights (CRLR) on its 2014/15 annual report. The Commission had exceeded its targets by settling 428 new claims against a target of 379; finalising 372 claims against a target of 239; approving 119 projects against a target of 53; researching 1 525 claims against a target of 1 445; establishing 14 operational claims lodgement offices; and acquiring four mobile lodgement offices.

Agri SA supported orderly land reform – equitable land distribution is a prerequisite for rural stability and inclusive rural development. Agri-SA believed that expropriation should only be used as a last resort where negotiations fail. There needed to be a clear purpose for expropriation. Compensation should never be dependent on the state’s ability to pay. The land owner should always be afforded recourse to the courts to contest both the merits of the expropriation and the compensation amount.

The Committee was briefed by the Ingonyama Trust Board (ITB) on its third quarter 2014/15 performance and financial report. Apologies were received from the Minister and Deputy Minister. At the outset, Members expressed their dismay that the ITB was reporting from a document that contained different figures to the one sent through to Members earlier, and it was difficult to follow the presentation. Secondly, several commented that the reporting format was problematic, as it did not conform to standard practices nor terminology as used in the Public Finance Management Act.

The Department of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) and the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR) jointly presented on the implementation of the One District, One Agri-Park programme in the context of the framework of the rural economic transformation model.

The Department achieved 56% of Q4 targets and 50% of Annual Performance Report targets in its Administration programme while annual targets on vacancies filled and disciplinary cases were partially achieved. In Geospatial and Cadastral Services, the Department achieved 77% of its Q4 targets and 69% of its APR targets. The Rural Development programme achieved 71% of its Q4 targets and 86% of its APR targets. The annual target for establishment of rural information desks was not achieved and the target of jobs created was partially achieved.

Reversing the legacy of the 1913 Natives Land Act. The root of the land question today arises out of the pervasive process of land alienation that dispossessed the majority of South Africans of their land over the past few centuries. 2013 is the centenary f the 1913 Natives Land Act, which was the first of number of discriminatory laws that reinforced the massive dispossession of land from black South AFricans