National African Farmers Union of South Africa

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National African Farmers Union of South Africa
Restitution of Land Rights Amendment Bill
Presented by Motsepe Matlala Deputy President
NAFU
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Presentation Agenda
Introduction Why Expropriation Abilities of
Black Farmers Powers of the Minister Willingness
of White Farmer Unions to Participate Conclusion
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Introduction
In South Africa we are indeed in a critical phase
in the process of creating a new future for all
our people. We are faced with resolving issues
that are fundamental prerequisites for achieving
a sustainable and equitable socio economic
solution for this country.
At the forefront of this process is the
agricultural sector with the many dynamics that
make ultimate achievement of stability in this
sector more complex than has been the case with
other sectors of the economy. We must learn from
the many examples that come to us from the rest
of Africa where it is plainly evident that until
agricultural stability is achieved in a country
that no last social stability is possible.

We have already learnt two very important
lessons. The first is that land reform will not
be painless and the second is that if land reform
is not implemented robustly that the frustrations
experienced by those who legitimately expect to
benefit from land reform will become
unmanageable. Why do organisations like the TAU
seem hell-bent on creating a situation where we
will inevitably repeat the mistakes of our
neighbours.
Accelerated land restitution must be promoted if
we are to extricate this country from the very
same problems of poverty and hunger that
continues to plague the rest of the continent
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Why is Expropriation Required
It is only the most naïve of those amongst us who
can truly believe that land restitution can
happen totally on a basis of agreement. No
society in the world is made up only of
reasonable people. It is the mandate of all
governments to ensure through transparent and
equitable processes that reasonableness prevails
in matters of national importance.

When the land of Black people was appropriated
without fair compensation to allow previous
governments to develop a strong agricultural
sector, a warped perception of public interest
was held forth as motivation for the
expropriations despite the creation of far
reaching social dissatisfaction
When the previous government later sought to
strengthen their agricultural sector even further
by consolidating the borders of the Homelands
and the farms of white farmers were appropriated
(with fair compensation), public interest once
again triumphed as the motivation despite the
fact that many White farmers were deeply
dissatisfied with the process
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Why is Expropriation Required
Today we are faced with a weakening agricultural
sector as a result of the disproportionate
ownership of agricultural land and clearly
intervention from the government in the form of
agricultural and land reform must continue and
indeed be accelerated. The only difference that
exists in the current land reform programme from
past programmes, is that the definition of public
interest has been corrected to include the
interests of all the people of the country.

It is of critical interest to the citizens of
this country that land restitution, as the
building block for a stable agricultural sector
be taken to it full conclusion in the most
effective way available. NAFU believes that
expropriation is required for those land
restitution cases where continued lack of
agreement develops into a situation where the
ultimate achievement of the fundamental
objectives of land reform is jeopardized
Clearly expropriation can not be used as a tool
for circumventing the laws of this country, or
indeed attempt to give the Minister the powers to
ride roughshod over the opponents of the
government. It is in fact the implementation of a
mechanism that will ensure that the process of
land restitution is optimised
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Abilities of Black Farmers
A popular refrain of the opponents of the land
restitution programme is that land given to Black
farmers go to waste and that Black farmers can
not farm this land effectively. Apart from real
examples where Black farmers have achieved
noteworthy succeses it is also true that
thousands of White farmers who went bankrupt will
attest that an ability to farm is only one of
many factors that contribute to agricultural
succes.
Evidence abounds that it is extremely difficult
for for any farmer, Black or White to achieve
commercial viability if the attitude of other
farmers, suppliers or market mechanisms are
hostile. If the attitude of White farmer
organisations who exert massive influence within
commodity groupings, supply chains and markets
remain negative and unsupportive of Black land
owner farmers, then agricultural stability in
this country is doomed to accelerated decline
Black farmers do have the ability to contribute
significantly to agricultural growth and food
security in South Africa if the right environment
is created. The Restitution of Land Rights Bill
aims to make a very specific contribution to
creating this required environment by optimising
the process of making land available to emerging
Black farmers.
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Powers of the Minister
NAFU continues to search for any substance in the
arguments raised by the opponents of the proposed
amendment. There certainly is no credible legal
argument in favour of preventing the amendment.
It seems that the only consistent narrative
emanating from organisations such as Agri-SA and
the TAU is that the Minister will have too many
powers. These are not prepared to publically
state that they are completely in favour of land
restitution and their negative attitude is aptly
demonstrated by their acceptance that the
Minister will misuse the powers conferred by the
proposed amendment.
It is also significant that those who contend
that the Ministers powers will be too far
reaching, only bring lists of what they regard as
possible problems to the debate. They do not
offer what they regard as alternative solutions
to expediting the land reform process. This lack
of contributory participation reinforces the
perception that they are primarily engaged in
various forms of obstructing the process. Without
measures that make expropriation possible, the
strategies designed to make the government fail
with land restitution can not be effectively
combated
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Willingness of White Farmers to Participate
It is very evident from the dialogue that has
been initiated during the past six months by not
only individual White farmers, but indeed more
than one commodity association with NAFU, that
there is a growing sentiment amongst White
farmers that they are not convinced of the
intentions of the traditional White farmers
organisations
A central theme to the dialogue has been that
within these organisations political posturing is
detracting from their ability to fully comprehend
the critical importance for collaborative
participation in the programmes which have been
initiated by the government. We do not want to
intimate that all the White farmers who are
currently in dialogue with NAFU fully support all
the actions of government, but certainly that all
of them are concerned with making a positive
contribution to finding sustainable solutions.
They do believe that their representative
organisations are involved in various forms of
obstructive behaviour
NAFU believes that expropriation powers vested in
the Minister is the only effective way to counter
destructive practices by the opponents of land
reform who have openly admitted their intention
to use lengthy and protracted court actions to
minimise governments chances of successfully
concluding land restitution
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Conclusion
NAFU would like in conclusion to urge those who
continue to oppose governments efforts to
transform, stabilize and grow the South African
agricultural sector, with shallow political
posturing to come to their senses and contribute
to finding sustainable solutions that will unite
farmers, regardless of their political
affiliations, into a sector of the South African
economy that will be characterized by a pride
that binds working farmers throughout the world
We are witnessing on our very doorstep the
results of unsuccessful land reform. The impact
of not getting it right because we are hesitant
to take decisive action and be influenced by
those that make much noise but no positive
contribution will be devastating not only on the
agricultural sector but on the broader economy of
this country. In this regard NAFU reiterates its
support for implementation of the Restitution of
Land Rights Amendment Bill as an effective means
to ensure that the land reform process so
critical to the future of this country does not
get bogged down in a political tennis match
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Thank You