The government is planning to transfer one-third of all farming land to black people
Barry Streek
A revolutionary plan to transfer a third of all farm land to black people in coming years is being drawn up within the government.
About 3,5-million hectares of South Africa’s agricultural land will be involved in the first five years of the programme, with more following later, according to the draft Integrated Programme of Land Redistribution and Agricultural Development. The initial costs of the scheme, which would benefit tens of thousands of black farming households, will be about R5,5-billion over the next five years.
The draft plan, which was discussed by the provincial MECs of agriculture on May 25, comes in the wake of invasions of farms in neighbouring Zimbabwe and the threats of similar land invasions in parts of South Africa.
Beneficiaries of the scheme will have to be from “previously disadvantaged” backgrounds. They will have to contribute as little as R5E000 – or as much as R405 000 – which will entitle them to a government grant to buy the land.
One of the conditions for the grants will be that applicants submit themselves to agricultural training. The scheme suggests applicants should identify land themselves, although the department will also set up a database of available land in the private and public sectors.
The plan is consistent with the strategies of Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs Thoko Didiza to develop a black commercial farming class in South Africa.
The African National Congress’s land policy so far has concentrated on restitution – as opposed to cultivating a new commercial farming class.
Progress has been slow – it emerged last month that R1,4-billion of the budget allocated for land reform had not been spent since 1995 – with only 4E923 of the 87E200 restitution applications having been passed so far.
The aim of the new programme, the draft document says, is “to increase access to agricultural land by formerly disadvantaged people and to facilitate transfer of ownership of 3,5-million hectares in five years and approximately 30% of the country’s agricultural land over the life of the programme”.
Land NGOs say they are concerned the plan will be beyond the reach of most people in the rural areas and will further marginalise the poor.
David Mayson of the Surplus Peoples Project said his organisation was concerned that if what farm workers earned was taken into account, the contribution of R5E000 would be more than a year’s labour and for this reason, “essentially excludes the poor and women in the rural areas”.
As the proposal stands, applicants will have to submit their plans to special committees in each province, which will be charged with allocating grants to buy the land.
Applicants will have to show they are not indulging in property speculation, and are bona fide farmers.
At the lowest end of the grant scale, someone making a contribution of R5E000 will get a matching grant of R20E000 for a total project cost of R25E000. If they contribute R35E000, they will get a matching grant of R26E000 for a total project cost of R61 000.
If they contribute R145E000, they will get a matching cost of R48E000 for a total project cost of R193E000.
The maximum grant will be R100E000 for a contribution of R405E000 or more.
So the grants will range from 80% of the total cost at the bottom of the scale to 20% at the upper end of the scale.
The departments of agriculture and land affairs intend using all unspent budget allocations on land reform for the 2000/2001 financial year to finance the new strategy, saying this would be sufficient for the first year of implementation.
The draft plan says a contribution of the magnitude of R5 000 – “in labour, materials, and/or cash” – is enough to ensure the commitment of the beneficiaries to the project “but not too high to exclude the poor”.
The grant would be used to cover expenses such as acquisition of land, design and transfer agent’s fee, working capital, settling-in costs, investment in small-scale infrastructure and other necessary expenditure.
“Beneficiaries under the programme (for example rural households, labour tenants, farm workers and people at present farming smallholdings and others) can purchase land on offer from any owner, whether public or private. Although some farms might change hands as whole units, most would have to be subdivided.
The draft plan says that once a piece of land is located, the participant or participants will enter into a contract with the seller.
They will then prepare a farm plan or land-use proposal, including a rough projected cash flow, and submit this to the local agricultural officer. If approved by the officer, the package with evidence of the applicant’s contribution will be reviewed by the provincial grant committee in public.
A manual will be prepared on the programme “to guide all actors involved in helping to make the programme realise its objectives”, the draft plan says.
The Democratic Party’s agriculture representative, Andries Botha, is sceptical about the plan’s chances of success.
He says even Josef Stalin, the former Russian dictator, who reputedly oversaw the slaughter of millions of wealthy peasants in his reorganisation of Soviet agriculture, could not achieve such a target in such a time frame.
Botha says any programme of this sort needs back-up: “You need coal miners to show the coalface. You need people with experience. This has been shown all over the world.
“However, we only have 60E000 commercial farmers. Forget about the issues of money, land and logistics. You have to have support and back-up. People have to be trained.”
Plans such as these were very damaging because they would raise aspirations, particularly among people in the rural areas.
Botha said there was ample proof that many people supported the transformation of South Africa “but there has to be a vigorous and sensible plan for land reform, designed for success”.
In a recent policy document the ANC said the redistribution process “has been very slow and the land hunger of our rural masses and abuse of farm workers are producing a potentially explosive situation unless we speed up change in the sector”.