Land reform in South Africa can be a win-win situation
The Democratic Alliance's (DA) vision for rural development and land reform in South Africa is informed by the four pillars of the Open, Opportunity Society for All: Redress, Reconciliation, Diversity and Delivery. It is a vision of a thriving rural economy in which the injustices of South Africa's apartheid and colonial past are effectively and decisively redressed through a combination of sustained job-creating economic growth, and a well-managed and appropriately resourced restitution programme.
The DA fully supports the need for a land reform programme in South Africa. It is a moral imperative that South Africa's skewed land ownership patterns are amended. We believe that the 1913 Land Act was apartheid's original sin. In decreeing that only certain parts of the country (a mere 7% of the total land mass) could be owned by black South Africans, the Act forced millions of people off the land and deprived them of their means of survival. Apartheid's compounding crime - Bantu Education - deliberately deprived black South Africans of the ability to acquire the education and skills with which to gain a foothold in the industrialising economy.
We live with the consequences of this history today, and we have to address them.
The DA believes that any programme of redress must be based on the rule of law and the constitutional provisions that govern property ownership; only then can land reform be a "win-win" scenario, in which the rights of present and future landowners are protected.
Our approach to land reform has always been about the creation of genuine, broad-based opportunity, coupled with the expansion and diversification of South Africa's commercial agriculture sector to increase productivity, create more rural jobs and promote food security. What this requires is an energetic and focused government that is willing and able to perform its own functions effectively, while at the same time creating economic conditions that are conducive to sustained growth, attract investment, and create jobs in order, ultimately, to eradicate the grinding poverty gripping the majority of our rural communities.
In order to achieve these aims, the overarching objective of any government responsible for answering the land question in South Africa must be to drive rural economic growth and job creation. This cannot and will never be achieved by the expropriation of land without compensation. Nor will spreading fear and xenophobia by demonising foreign investors in South Africa as "thieves" solve the problems of joblessness, hunger and poverty plaguing our nation. None of these aims can be achieved by incendiary statements and populist rhetoric, aimed at inflaming tensions and peddling fear, anger and hatred for the sake of short-term political power.
Economic growth can only be fostered under a thriving market economy, in which property rights are protected, and land reform takes place under the principle of willing buyer, willing seller. If this principle were to be abandoned, the impact on agricultural production, the broader property market, foreign investment and the economy as a whole would be disastrous.
It is true that land reform in South Africa is failing. But the cause of this failure is to be found in the present: poor ANC government policy, and a management and implementation process all but crippled by corruption, poor planning, and financial mismanagement. We need to acknowledge the real reasons for these failures, instead of allowing demagogues to hijack this crucial debate for their own narrow political ends.
Land reform can be implemented successfully under programmes such as the share-equity model, in which farm owners who want to sell or expand their farms to do so through a scheme in which farm workers buy a percentage of the property. This is paid for by the government, using funding allocated to the Department of Rural Development for land reform purposes. Equity share agreements can be negotiated in various proportions, but in the Western Cape - where, despite isolated problems, these schemes have worked - we have found that they work best when there is a 50/50 sharing of risk and reward.
Last year, the DA successfully petitioned the Minster of Rural Development and Land Reform to lift the moratorium that had been placed on the scheme in the province. We believe that share-equity schemes should be implemented in the rest of South Africa, and made central to land reform methodology because they represent an example of redress through the genuine expansion of opportunity for all.
The DA's Western Cape Department of Agriculture has also recognized that the emerging sector - including new farmers, smallholder farmers, land reform beneficiaries and farm workers - requires more support from the government. In order to provide this support, the provincial department will be forming a task team, comprising representatives from other government departments, including Treasury, as well as members of the private sector. This task team will chart the way forward by drawing, where appropriate, on the best practice lessons of the province's Micro- Economic Development Strategy.
None of these are quick-fix solutions. They require time, effort, and commitment. But the Democratic Alliance does not trade in quick-fixes; that is the currency of populists and demagogues, whose only objective is to consolidate political power at any cost. Our aim is to seek sustainable, win-win solutions to the land question in South Africa, and we will continue to pursue policies that achieve this aim.
Statement issued by Lindiwe Mazibuko MP, DA Shadow Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, June 23 2011
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