President Jacob Zuma has launched Operation Vula, a policy programme aimed at addressing a skewed economic make-up in KwaZulu-Natal, by empowering the previously disenfranchised.
Zuma and members of the Provincial Executive Council launched the programme in Ixobho yesterday.
He said Operation Vula and its subsidiary, the Radical Agrarian Socio-Economic Transformation (Raset) programme, are “critical milestones in government’s ongoing campaign to bring about meaningful and tangible economic freedom, which has profound positive implications on the lives of people”.
Through the Raset programme, the province aims to improve the participation of farmers from historically disadvantaged communities in the food production chain.
The deliverables of both programmes were co-ordinated by the Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs and MEC Sihle Zikalala.
Zuma is concerned about the cynicism around the economic transformation agenda.
“This cynicism is driven mainly by those who have historically controlled the means of production and their acolytes. The reason why there is such a resistance to our efforts is because we are seen to be threatening the privileged status of those who have been controlling the means of production, even after the 1994 democratic breakthrough,” he said.
KwaZulu-Natal Premier Willies Mchunu said the programmescan help build a democratic society characterised by equality, unity and prosperity for all.
“With us guaranteeing market, we are convinced that black and African farmers, in particular, will have enough incentive to enter this sector. We are confident these programmes will assist us to deal with inequalities."
Zikalala commended the support his department had received from the provincial and private sectors.