Government will soon fulfil the wishes of the DA and FF+ and give clarity on the future of land reform when it tables a green paper in which the principle of willing buyer/willing seller will be reviewed.

Both these parties have cited uncertainty over the state’s approach to agriculture and land restitution during the debate on the State of the Nation address as a big source of concern in the farming community. They also said the state has to do more to improve the support for farming.

Gugile Nkwinti, minister of rural development and land reform, said his department will be “tackling the elephant in the room” and ask for contributions regarding this sensitive issue.

He said it is impossible for government to meet all the requirements and it simply doesn’t have the capital to fully execute its land reform program.

“We need R75bn if we want to reach our target of 34 million ha in black hands. We don’t have that kind of money. Until the consultation process is finalised, we will continue to buy land wherever we can, as well as expropriate land in certain cases.”

Dr Lourie Bosman, DA MP and agriculture spokesperson, said government’s excessive emphasis on transformation and BEE has led to rural development being “a dismal failure”.

The state doesn’t know how to make agriculture sustainable anymore, while it still isn’t recognised as a source of foreign capital or a work creation mechanism. This, together with a flawed policy and offensive statements by politicians, is driving SA farmers away.

Dr. Pieter Mulder, leader of the FF+ and minister of agriculture, cited the minister’s insufficient support for commercial farming. Referring to farm murders, he said it is the farmers’ impression that it is not an important issue for government. He also requested that these murder statistics be recorded separately.

Bosman agreed with Mulder and said the government has to provide urgent security to farmers and their workers as they are still soft targets. – Pieter du Toit, Beeld

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