ATC160317: Report of the Select Committee on Land and Mineral Resources analysing the Taking Parliament to the People Report – Eden District Municipality – Oudtshoorn, for possible follow up by the Committee, dated 01 March 2016

NCOP Land Reform, Environment, Mineral Resources and Energy

Report of the Select Committee on Land and Mineral Resources analysing the Taking Parliament to the People Report – Eden District Municipality – Oudtshoorn, for possible follow up by the Committee, dated 01 March 2016

 

  1. BACKGROUND

 

There were no specific matters raised during the 2015 TPTTP that fell within the Environmental or Mineral Resource portfolios of the committee, and also only limited reference made to issues pertaining to Rural Development and Land Reform. The main focus of the Committee during the 2015 TPTTP event at Eden District Municipality was on the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries portfolio, with minor reference made to Land Reform matters during the public hearing. A hearing day was dedicated towards agriculture issues and the matters raised were summarised in this brief. To date, no replies have been received from the Executive or the provincial administration regarding specific issues raised.

During site visits performed by Members of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), two agriculture sites were visited. These were Amalienstein Farm and the dried fruit project at Zoar, Kannaland (The JMHP Primary Social Development Co-operative). Matters were raised during the site visits by members of the community, by officials of various departments and recommendations were made by members of the NCOP. This report serves to highlight matters that potentially remain outstanding and which should be addressed by the Select Committee for Land and Mineral Resources as soon as possible. 

At the time of drafting the initial summary of departmental responses to matters raised during TPTTP, there had not been any official response provided by the Ministry to the matters raised during the site visits or the public hearings. Between the completion of the initial feedback report and this committee report, the Department, via the Minister, had responded to some of the matters raised during the public hearings and these responses will be reflected in the report. Submissions highlighted in bold font were responded to and the responses will be supplied further on in this report. However, there were also opportunities for written reports to be submitted during the public hearing for individuals who were not afforded an opportunity to address the panel. It has to be assumed that not all of these written submissions were captured in the NCOP report circulating at present[1] as the Ministry, in its response, cited questions or statements not captured in the report. These will be reported on separately in a section of the report titled “Responses by the Minister on matters not captured in the NCOP Technical Report.”

Finally, it is worth noting that there were no reference made to the site visits reported in the Technical Report, and where specific timelines for responses from the Ministry is long overdue. This matter need to be followed up with the Ministry as a matter of urgency.

 

  1. SUMMARY OF PUBLIC HEARING ON AGRICULTURE AND LAND REFORM

 

The following key service delivery issues were raised by members of the public during the public hearings on Agriculture and Land Affairs:

  • Transformation within the agricultural sector in the Western Cape is almost non-existent.
  • The process of acquiring and distributing land in the Western Cape is very slow and lengthy.
  • Blacks are being side lined by the Western Cape government to participate in the Ostrich farming, as funding is only extended to the previously advantaged farmers.
  • The Eden District Municipality wants to evict the Vuk’uzenzele farming association from the land that is owned by the municipality.  In the event that the evictions of the farmers are carried out, the affected farmers will have no any other place to keep their farming equipment and livestock.
  • Monies relating to land claims that were settled under the Land Restitution Programme have yet to be paid to the claimants of Lavay in George.
  • There is a decline in productivity on redistributed farms and urgent government intervention is needed.
  • Farms that were given to a group of 40 emerging farmers in Oudtshoorn are in a poor state of repair and therefore no production is currently taking place. Government has failed to ensure that skills are transferred to the emerging farmers at the point of acquisition. Adequate farmer support and development is needed to ensure that farms are rehabilitated.
  • The National government is requested to intervene on the matter of evictions that are taking place, following the granting of the court order that was instituted by the Eden District Municipality.
  • The district municipality is refusing to release the identified hectares of land in George for agricultural production as the municipality claim that the land belongs to the Department of Public Works. The Department and the municipality have been promising for years to resolve the matter but to date the affected emerging farmers are still waiting for a feedback on the matter.
  • A strategic partner in Oudtshoorn (name known by the Executive Mayor) has misappropriated funds earmarked for agricultural production of the cooperative.

 

Responses by the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries:

 

  • The MEC of Agriculture in the Western Cape had conceded that transformation is at the snail pace in the province.
  • Black farmers constitutes only 1% in the province.
  • The province was allocated a budget of R100 million for CASP, R64 million for Ilima and R164 million for disaster funding.
  • All other issues regarding the land reforms will be communicated to relevant Minister.
  • Concerted efforts are needed in order to avert the farm workers evictions.
  • Responses by the MEC of Finance on behalf of the MEC of Agriculture:
  • The Western Cape provincial department is committed to addressing the issue of transformation within the sector.
  • Feasibility study has already been undertaken with regards to the Agri-park Project and the project will be piloted in George. A total of R250 million has been allocated to the emerging farmers.
  • Extended support is rendered to the emerging farmers.

 

 

  1. AMELIENSTEIN FARM (KANNALAND LOCAL MUNICIPALITY)

 

Observations/findings:

 

  • Mr Richard Jacobs, the Farm Manager, mentioned that the farm although currently has a staff compliment of 80 workers, the staff compliment used to be around 400 people during the fruit harvesting season.  The farm was then turned into a dairy farm.
  • According to Mr Jacobs, the community was disputing the land ownership of the farm and had lodged a dispute with the Land Claims Commission. A legal finding had indicated that the land ownership must be resolved. The major dispute was that the Department of Agriculture had not consulted the community when it developed the business plan for the farm.
  • According to Mr Jacobs, the cold storage facility and the packing facility were not being utilised since the turning of the farm into a dairy farm.

 

Recommendations

 

All matters raised must be resolved and there should be a follow-up visit by the Department of Agriculture, Land Affairs, and relevant Parliament Committees.

 

  1. JMHP PRIMARY SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT COOPERATIVE - DRIED FRUIT PROJECT (ZOAR, KANNALAND)

 

Observations/findings:

 

  • The project is considered to be potentially viable but even after the investment of significant amounts of money it had not become self-sustaining.
  • The Members requested a comprehensive report on the problems the Cooperative experienced in previous years and whether these problems had now been resolved.
  • The delegation noted that there were too many departments involved in the Cooperative without a lead department taking responsibility for the Cooperative’s success.
  • The delegation further noted that the Cooperative was paying R200 rental per month for the use of the land from Amelienstein farm whilst it was not making a profit.

 

Recommendations

 

The following recommendations were made:

  • The NDA, having assisted the Cooperative in the past, must submit a report to the NCOP on the monies allocated to the Cooperative, the lessons learnt from the Cooperatives failure, and its viability going forward within 14 days of the adoption of this report by the NCOP.       
  • The Department of Agriculture must enter into discussions with other related and involved departments to resolve which department would be the lead department to take responsibility for the success of the Cooperative and report to the NCOP within 14 days of the adoption of this report.
  • The Department of Agriculture must investigate funding for the rental fee until such time as the Cooperative becomes viable and report back to the NCOP within 14 days of the adoption of this report.

 

  1. RESPONSE BY THE MINISTRY

 

On the 25th of October 2015, parliament received a communication from the acting Director-General of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries that contained responses to matters raised during the latest TPTTP in Eden District Municipality. The response was drafted by the HOD of the provincial agriculture department in the Western Cape.

 

5.1     RESPONSES TO COMMENTS MADE IN THE PUBLIC HEARING ON AGRICULTURE AND LAND AFFAIRS

 

  • On the matter of the Vuk’uzenzele farming association:

According to the response, the group has defaulted on the lease for an extended period of time, and are thus in breach of the conditions of the lease agreement with the municipality. The Department has offered to assist in the mediation process and will also link the group with the DRDLR in order to investigate the possibility of providing access to land via the PLAS programme.

 

•           On the matter of pending evictions on the farm Kromkloof:

According to the response, the project in which the farm workers claim to have been shareholders were never registered with the Department or with the DRDLR, suggesting that it was a private venture. The Department has recommended assistance in order to ensure that the conditions of ESTA are adhered to during the transition process after the sale of the farm to new owners.

 

5.2        RESPONSES TO MATTERS NOT CAPTURED IN THE TPTTP TECHNICAL REPORT

The response received from the Department further noted the following matters, to which was responded to:

  1. A project in Bitou where land was allocated land but the group lacked equipment and needed assistance. Assistance is dependent on land ownership and they are leasing municipal land. The response indicated that assistance to people on leased land holdings can be problematic and thus an arrangement was proposed where the opportunities for access to PLAS assistance (DRDLR) could be investigated.
  2. An individual was unhappy at the rate of assistance with regards to acquiring land, especially the method of beneficiary selection by the municipality. Again, the response suggested discussing the matter with the DRDLR for PLAS assistance as the complainant was found to be farming with livestock in violation of municipal by-laws (Bitou municipality).
  3. A complaint was made that a farming couple have been waiting since 2013 for a grant to assist them with the farming enterprise in Oudtshoorn. The municipality is at present unwilling to assist with the resolution of the application. In the response, it was clarified that the applicant was a permanent employee of the defence force and thus not eligible for a grant. He was informed of this and instructed to re-submit paperwork with his spouse as the applicant, but, to date, has failed to do so.

 

  1. REQUIRED ACTIONS

 

Public Hearing

At national level, matters raised during the TPTTP public hearing falls within the mandate of DAFF and the DRDLR as pointed out in this report. At present, the NCOP is still awaiting any form of response from the relevant Minister with regards to progress on resolving the matters raised at the hearing.

Site Visits

The matters highlighted in this correspondence to the Chair of the committee has to be communicated to the relevant ministry/department/government agency in order to highlight that these undertakings were made during the Oudtshoorn programme.

A response is required from the ministry/department/government agency indicating what progress had been made on the implementation/execution of the highlighted undertakings, specifically looking at time frames, budget available, whether the undertaking could be addressed in the short, medium or long term.

Once the reply is received, the committee should schedule the TPTP Report for processing in its programme and call the relevant ministry/department/government agency to explain what it has done or will do to resolve the matters highlighted.

Upon completion of this interaction, a final report should be submitted by the Chair of the committee to the House Chair.

Report to be considered

 

 

 


[1] Report of the Taking Parliament To The People held at Oudtshoorn, Eden District Municipality, Western Cape Province, 13 – 17 April 2015

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