Speech by Pieter Groenewald, FF Plus MP, in the Appropriation Debate: Rural Development and Land Reform, Parliament, June 7 2011
Chairperson,
Rural Development and Land Reform is an important appropriation debate and important things were said here today. The agricultural leaders who are attending proceedings here today, the farmers and landowners out there should take note of what was said in this debate today.
The Democratic Alliance's (DA) speaker, Ms. Mazibuko acknowledged and said that the DA has the same objectives with regard to land reform as that of the ANC. There is therefore no difference between the DA and the ANC when it comes to land reform. The Freedom Front Plus differs however drastically with the ANC and now also from the DA when it comes to land reform.
The Deputy Minister complains about the DA but it is like the cat family who mate and fight with each other simultaneously. The Deputy Minister criticises the FF Plus and says that we are the first party to complain about land reform. He is right but I wish to state it clearly that we will continue with our complaints.
The Deputy Minister charges farmers and talks about how they abuse their workers and even kill them. I challenge the Deputy Minister to provide the statistics on this. How many farm workers have been killed by farmers? I will however be giving you the statistics about farm murders in South Africa.
At present there are 313 farm murders for every 100 000 people. The Police as a dangerous occupation has figures of 271 per 100 000 of the population. The world average for murder is seven per 100 000 of the population. Of this I hear nothing from the side of the Deputy Minister and he should first get his figures right before he makes irresponsible statements here. The Deputy Minister also has to know that if it was not for the farmers who see to it that there is food, he would not be able to sit so shiny and fat here and talk a lot of nonsense.
I want to tell the Deputy Minister to listen to what his Minister says. The Minister himself acknowledged that 90% of the land reform projects have failed. The Deputy Minister however complains about the slow pace of the transfer of land. At present nearly 6,03 million hectares of agricultural land have been transferred in terms of land redistribution and land restitution but the success figure is only 10%. The FF Plus view is to first make sure that the transferred land is utilised successfully before more land is transferred.
For the Minister I would like to say that there can be no rural development without commercial farmers. Commercial farmers are the heartbeat of the rural economy and should therefore be nurtured. His department is however the largest threat for food security in South Africa in that confusing statements such as that of the Deputy Minister's today here, create uncertainty amongst farmers.
That is why farmers are starting to move to other countries and South Africa will be losing its farmers if no certainty is created about land reform. It is one of the most important aspects which the Minister will have to give attention to.
Issued by the FF Plus, June 8 2011
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