Question NW555 to the Minister of Land Reform and Rural Development
30 September 2024 - NW555
Montwedi, Mr Mk to ask the Minister of Land Reform and Rural Development
Whether there are any infrastructure projects that remain incomplete in any of the land reform farms; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, (a) what is the total number of such projects in each province, (b) what are the reasons for the delay, (c) how long has the delay been, (d) how has the delay affected the (i) production at the specified farms and (ii) livelihood of affected farmers and (e) livelihood of affected farmers?
Reply:
THE MINISTER OF LAND REFORM AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT:
Yes, there are infrastructure projects on land reform farms that are work in progress.
(a) Total number in each Province:
|
PROVINCE |
NUMBER OF PROJECTS |
|
1. Easter Cape |
1 |
|
2. Free State |
1 |
|
3. Gauteng |
1 |
|
4. Limpopo |
1 |
|
5. Mpumalanga |
2 |
|
6. Northwest |
33 |
|
7. Northern Cape |
4 |
|
TOTAL |
43 |
(b) The reasons are multi-fold, ranging from contractual disputes between the Department and development partner (litigation process); disputes amongst beneficiaries in some instances resulting in suspension of works and inadequate inhouse engineering resources to plan, initiate, monitor, and close the projects. Collaboration with Provincial Departments of Agriculture (PDAs) in assisting with engineering services is supporting to close this gap, but not sufficient as the PDAs are also responsible for Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme (CASP) infrastructure portfolio. Unfortunately, the unit has not seen the required growth that is concomitant to the growth in the portfolio it’s services. Instead, it has seen posts being abolished, others not being filled due to moratorium resulting from budget cuts.
(c) The age analysis of the affected 43 projects is over 5 years. The projects dates to 2019/20 at the time when we had serious challenges with engineering services.
(d) (i) The Department approves development grants to ensure optimum productivity of the land reform acquired properties. The challenges faced in completing built environment related projects, on time, does negatively impact on this set objective.
(ii) With less than optimum utilisation of the farm, turnover per annum is affected directly translating affecting the livelihood of the farmer.
(e) This part of the question is a repeat of (d)(ii) above.