Watch Mabuza accused of controlling criminal cartels video

SOUTH AFRICA – KZN – 15 July 2019 – Deputy President David Mabuza addressing the crowd at the launch of the 2019 UNAIDS Global update, communities at the centre report at King DiniZulu stadium, in Eshowe, KZN.
Picture: Motshwari Mofokeng/African News Agency(ANA)

Government to announce plans for redistribution of state land – Mabuza

In his address to the NCOP, deputy president David Mabuza promised a plan to redistribute state land would be announced soon.

Watch Mabuza accused of controlling criminal cartels video

SOUTH AFRICA – KZN – 15 July 2019 – Deputy President David Mabuza addressing the crowd at the launch of the 2019 UNAIDS Global update, communities at the centre report at King DiniZulu stadium, in Eshowe, KZN.
Picture: Motshwari Mofokeng/African News Agency(ANA)

Deputy president David Mabuza has promised the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) that the South African government will soon make announcements on its plans for the redistribution of state land for agricultural purposes.

Mabuza was addressing the NCOP in his oral reply to questions posed by the council for the first time since the formation of the sixth administration.

Government set to accelerate redistribution of state land

He revealed the state was not only looking into speeding up restitution of farmland but also redistributing land to emerging farmers and, to this end, it was looking at state-owned land and drafting qualifying criteria for beneficiaries.

“We are looking at land in the hands of government that we are going to redistribute to people to grow, to plant. Very soon we are going to make announcements on how we are going to redistribute with the necessary support.”

David Mabuza

Mabuza made the comments while replying to questions of the government’s land reform programme in the NCOP.

Mabuza admits emerging farmers have suffered from a lack of support

He conceded that in the recent past emerging farmers who were beneficiaries of restituted and redistributed land had failed to farm successfully and said this was a function of inadequate support from the state.

“Our support has been erratic,” he conceded.

“There have been weaknesses in the manner we support small farmers. This resulted in a number of small farmers failing.”

David Mabuza

He said in some cases beneficiaries received productive farms but failed to keep them going, in part because farmer support measures were not well coordinated between the national and provincial governments.

“It is free money that we give to a farmer. In all provincial departments, there is money for farmer support, free of charge, that goes to farmers. The only snag here is that the things that national government and provincial governments were doing were not coordinated.”

David Mabuza

Markets to be found to ensure produce is sold

Mabuza said government wanted to go as far as making sure there were receptive markets for what emerging farmers produce so they don’t struggle to sell their produce.

He suggested the state could adopt a policy that all vegetables bought for state hospitals and school nutrition programmes be sourced from emerging farmers, instead of from commercial farmers as was the case currently.

“We are going to give a package of support to those people we give land to.”

David Mabuza

– African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Devereaux Morkel