Durban - Inadequate grazing land, lack of conducive farming conditions and continued incidents of abuse of farm dwellers at the hands of farm owners were some of the issues that took centre stage during the public hearings on the Preservation and Development of Agricultural Land Bill in Pietermaritzburg yesterday.
The hearings were conducted by Parliament’s Agricultural portfolio committee chaired by iNkosi Mandla Mandela. Farm dwellers, individual farmers and organised farming communities said that the government was not attentive to their plight, and appeared to care only when elections were looming.
Magagu Mkhize, a farm dweller from New Hanover, spoke of the difficulty of living on a small plot at a farm where he shared a two-bedroom house with his wife and eight children. He appealed to the government for more consideration for farm dwellers, adding that many lived as if they were still under apartheid rule.
Pietermaritzburg resident, Sibusiso Ngcobo, accused Parliament of failing in its oversight role and said this was partly to blame for programmes that were collapsing. He cited an agriculture and farming project that was handed over in 2002, but had not been properly overseen and this had led to its collapse as members of the community who were beneficiaries fought among themselves.
Sthembiso Zaca from the Msunduzi Livestock Association complained that they were not getting help from either the local or provincial government structures, and their initiative was facing challenges, including livestock theft. “There must be some form of assistance to us as aspiring farmers, and the government should not start realising the importance of coming to us just because there are elections on the horizon,” said the farmer.
The bill is aimed at, among other things, ensuring that there is a balance between land used for farming so that there is no threat to the country’s food security, and meeting development purposes such as providing land for housing across the country.
INkosi Mandela gave an assurance that the grievances expressed by participants would be forwarded to the relevant authorities.
“We are not here to pass time, but want to get your input and ensure that your views are incorporated in the bill,” he said.