Land reform, and especially land restitution, were proceeding according to plan, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs said in Pretoria on Thursday.
”There’s this wrong impression that most of these projects, especially restitution, are failing. That is not true, they are working,” Dirk du Toit told a press briefing at the Union Buildings.
He was speaking after the Presidential Commercial Agricultural Working Group meeting.
It was attended by government representatives, the National African Farmers Union, Agri SA, the Transvaal Agricultural Union (TAU) and the Agriculture CEO Forum.
Du Toit said the restitution commission had ”really performed brilliantly”.
Du Toit said that while the strategic plan of 2001 for agriculture in South Africa was undergoing review, there were no ”radical plans” to change it.
Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs Lulu Xingwana said concerns had been expressed that land restitution was slow and needed to be fast-tracked. She said open meetings with all interested parties would be held to address these concerns.
Xingwana said farmers were given assurances that whatever government’s programmes were, they would not be left behind.
She said a report on the government’s bio-fuel strategy would be tabled at an inter-ministerial committee by the end of October, and tabled in Parliament by the end of November.
TAU general manager Bennie van Zyl said the land restitution programme ”doesn’t work”. He said being a farmer required a host of skills, such as the ability to accept responsibility, financial management and knowledge of markets.
”Not everybody can be a farmer,” he said. — Sapa