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Government in the dark about productivity of land reform farms worth R56 billion

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Dear MyPE

The Democratic Alliance (DA) will write to the Minister of Land Reform and Rural Development, Thoko Didiza, requesting that she provides clarity on when her Department plans to institute a comprehensive productivity assessment on all farms that have been bought by government for land reform purposes since 1994.

An assessment of budget documents since 1994 shows that government has spent over R53 billion rand on land reform. According to a Parliamentary reply by the Minister of Land Reform and Rural Development, Thoko Didiza, despite spending a further R3 billion recapitalising land reform farms, her Department does not know if they are productive or not.

The R56 billion spent on land reform and recapitalisation does not include the R46 billion that the government has spent on land restitution during the same period.

It is simply astounding that government has spent billions of rand on land reform, with plans to spend more, but has never bothered to review the state of productivity on land reform farms.

The Department’s continued push to spend more money on recapitalisation without a clear picture of whether previous recapitalisations have been successful in improving productivity, is simply a dereliction of duty that demands immediate correction.

Minister Didiza must urgently commission this land reform farm productivity assessment as it will help the country get an informed understanding of the challenges that newly resettled farmers are facing and the interventions needed to help with farm output.

It is reckless for government pursue an economic ruinous policy such as expropriation without compensation when it has not made an effort to determine whether newly resettled farmers have been adequately capacitated to improve productivity on their farms.

Minister Didiza has an obligation to institute the land reform farm productivity assessment as a matter of urgency to enable South Africans to make informed contributions on the ongoing nation debate on land reform.

Regards

Noko Masipa MP
DA Member on the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Land Reform & Rural Development

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