Pretoria - Key role players in the land reform sector have set a goal that all land reform farms should be 100 percent productive and sustainable during this Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) period.
"As a response to this challenge, the department has set aside R3.3 billion for land reform, excluding the restitution programme," Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti told Parliament during his Budget Vote on Tuesday.
He further said from that amount, R2 billion has been set aside for strategic land acquisition of about 303 612 hectares and R1.3 billion for making all land reform farms fully functional and 100 percent productive, through the Recapitalisation and Development Programme.
This should cover an additional 387 farms, and revitalise 27 irrigation schemes, which have already been identified across the country.
"Only R2 billion has been made available for land restitution this financial year. It has become clear in our minds that this programme is not about to be concluded in the next few years," he said.
This realisation has forced the department to reconsider its strategy. It has to actively engage with all stakeholders, current land-owners and claimants, to work out a mechanism which could ease the pressure in this regard.
"... A meeting is in the pipeline, between the department and Sappi, to discuss matters related to claims on land currently held by the latter ... Similar discussions with Sugar SA, held in December last year, yielded positive results, which have still to be exploited to the full," said Nkwinti.
This clearly shows that South Africans, given an opportunity, are ready and prepared to work with government to find solutions to problems.
"We will, also, engage Treasury with a view to possibly re-prioritising allocations between Restitution and Redistribution," he said.
