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South African Planning Minister Trevor Manuel.
Government has “thrown too much money down the chute” on land reform, Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel said on Monday.
Opening AgriSa's annual conference in Stellenbosch, he noted the price of agricultural land was very high and often lay fallow - with no investment made in it - before a sale went through.
“The price is very high, and the land lies fallow for a decade, and by the time there is an actual payment, there is no correspondence with the price of the land,” Manuel said.
“And so we've actually thrown too much money down the chute. We need to look at this issue very differently.”
In his state-of-the-nation address earlier this month President Jacob Zuma alluded to his government's plan to review the willing-buyer-willing-seller principle that had been underpinning land reform since 1994.
Manuel told the conference the issue of land reform was “sensitive”.
He did not elaborate, saying only that land reform was necessary and a “constitutional imperative.”
Responding to comments from delegates that there was a “blockage” when it came to communicating with government officials at a regional level, he vowed to raise this with Zuma.
Among politicians present at the two day conference, which ends on Tuesday, was Deputy Agriculture Minister Pieter Mulder, who last week controversially raised the historical basis for land reform in the National Assembly.
Manuel, who chairs the National Planning Commission said South Africa's population was currently around 50 million and was set to rise to 58.5 million by 2030.
This meant farmers would have to increase agriculture outputs by twenty percent to meet a growing demand for food. - Sapa
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FARMER, wrote
WHY DOES THE LAND LIE BARON? When a farmer is killed (and there are thousands), the land, movable assets, money, etc, goes into an estate. Some of these estates take up 6yrs to be resolved and tied up, where no farming is done during this time, and often these farms are auctioned off. Labourers loose their jobs, no production is put out to feed the nation, etc. So perhaps Mr Manual must consider the true facts for a change, and rather ask Zuma to protect the farmers in order to feed this fast growing nation!
Anonymous, wrote
This is an intentionally created problem by the ANC, putting the most incompetant and abrasive people at the steer of the land process, makin it a mess whereby they can rally their support base on highly emotionally issue and then create a 'common enemy' - Farmers. This manifested in the verbalisations by Malema,and all he did was to open his mouth about what is said behind closed doors within the ANC.
Very, Very Concerned, wrote
Not for the life of me have I been able to understand why it is so important for the Government to take over farms or land that quite frankly they have no right in doing. I urge Government to stop clawing at everything they possibly can and to be very, very careful of plunging this country into food shortage and hunger as we never before have experienced. It is a known fact that a world-wide food shortage is looming; let South Africa not join the ranks. We need the farmers, every one of them, and we need their expertise. Leave the farmers and the farm land alone; they are the food producers of South Africa, more precious than gold. Without them and their expertise we will all starve. House people on land that is designated for that purpose; and instead of “losing money”, channel it into high rise developments in which to house the expanding population…..Leave farm land alone!
@Nyathi, wrote
Anonymous, wrote
This Government must deal with this issue now once and for all and get it over with. This "crisis" is soley due to their utter incompetence and poor handling of the land issue, which they are now using to blame whites. For over 17 years this Government has had more than enough money to make a meaningful transfer of land on a compensated basis but have been incapable of doing it .. enuff said !!
Not so clever, Trevor, wrote
Give us a break. The ANC has [allegedly] stolen our tax money, and now their financial whizz-pop-bang kid needs to look at land reform “differently”? Get your head out of the sand, Trevor. You are not as smart as you think you are. Have you heard of “food security”? The only thing that grows really well in the rural areas is dagga.
Matthews Bantsijang, wrote
Wiseman always change his mind?....“The price is very high, and the land lies fallow for a decade, and by the time there is an actual payment, there is no correspondence with the price of the land,” Manuel said.
Geoff, wrote
This is one of those issues that needs some traction urgently. People may not like the way they are dealing with the issue, but at least they are dealing with it in some way. I wonder what opposition parties propose to diffuse this time bomb. We can sit and criticize these policies on nationalization and land reform all we like from the comfort of the internet, but the majority of South Africa does not have that luxury; and is demanding change now. Civil Wars have started over less.
Petros, wrote
Ok so the government offers to buy land, wastes years doing the admin, then its the white okes fault? Hmmm par for the SA course I guess ---- must be the fault of apartheid.
nyathi, wrote
Trev, just remember that farms are businesses, NOT just land. I work in the agricultural industry in KZN. Over the last 7 years, I have seen productivity (of the particular commodity I am involved in) drop by 50% in this province. The reason.....land reform. These farms just lie derelect now. Before they supported hundreds of families and secondary industries, now they support none. That is called throwing money down the drain....not the price of these farms.
busani mhlanga, wrote
if s.a gvnt doesn't hold this time bomb carefully it will explode and burn the whole of southern africa. cruciqal care of very urgency need to be taken to deal with this issue.
Juan, wrote
Once a farmer sells the land he stops putting money into the farm. In some cases years go by before the government actually pays the farmer. Now millions more is needed to restore the farm again. This puts off other farmers from dealing with the government.
Anonymous, wrote
How can anybody with any brains be a member of the ANC? We have seen what has happened to land purchased by the government and then given to PDI's. The once thriving farms a shambles within a few months.
madoc, wrote
gees please look it very differently and start by dropping your salaries and you will probably think that it is not that much spent on a good course
tokolosh, wrote
nobody in his right mind will invest in agriculture as long as the threat of farms being taken away, and with current farms with land claims on them are not investing any capital projects as they do not no where they stand. The giving of farms to people who are well connected and have zero experience in farming is a major problem, because as soon as they take over, the farm goes one way - down.This has happend time and again,and farms should only be given to people who will live on the land and have experience in farming. Thousands of farmers have left the land in the last 20 years and some of them would like to get back to doing what we do best(myself included)and set up parnerships with black farmers to mentor,educate and share going forward, but i think this is a pipe dream as the anc wants everything and is sadly not prepared to compromise.Unfortunatly it is a downward spiral as with all things the anc touches !!
marty, wrote
Correction Trev. - you have thrown taxpayers money down the chute as the a skill which the anc is quite adept at!
tony, wrote
Unbelievable !! who in their right mind would invest time and money in a piece of land which is about to be handed over to someone else. What do these so called leaders expect, do they want farmers to plant the crops, look after them and maybe even harvest them and let the new owner get the profits from the farmers hard work and investment. Not a chance. Even more ridiculous is that most farms which have been handed over arnt farmed, they just lie there with a few cattle and loads of goats which cause erosion. You cant have it all your own way, you actually have to do some things yourself.
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