December 2009
It
seems only yesterday that a group of concerned people met in a hall in
the same street where AFRA’s current offices are – “to monitor, enquire
into, record and publicise all matters relating to the social and
economic position of persons in the rural areas of the province”.
This
group gave an undertaking that they would take action and cooperate
with others “to alleviate hardship, discrimination and oppression” and
encourage “social and economic advancement and development”. Since
1979 many things have changed for the better, but the rural people that
AFRA serves still face immense problems and challenges – unresolved
land claims, under resourced land redistribution, continuing evictions
and harassment. At the same time larger threats relating to food
security and climate change loom ominously. So AFRA does not see its
task as done – we are here for the foreseeable future.
Mike Cowling, William Mnyandu & Cherryl Walker
On
the 10th of December 2009 AFRA celebrated its work over the past 30
years at the Anglican Cathedral, where speakers reflected on the past,
present and future of the organisation. Forming part of our 30th
anniversary a Great Land Debate was held, where some of AFRA’s senior
members were part of the panel discussion. Major land topics were
discussed. Previous AFRA staff, a wide range of community
representatives that the organisation works with, government
stakeholders and civil society organisations, attended the celebration.
This ensured extensive participation in the land debate, where a number
of interesting and challenging issues were raised and debated.
AFRA
aims to have more of these land debates in the near future in order to
tackle issues of concern to people in order to find ways to ensure that
the rights and the needs of the rural poor are met.To this end the
30-year celebration gathering on the 10th December 2009 was an important
step in this direction.
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Anger over land failures
The
staggering failure of the Land Restitution Programme became the subject
of a heated debate yesterday at the 30th anniversary of the Association
for Rural Advancement (AFRA) as numerous claimants attacked the Land
Affairs Department.
It is estimated that at least 50% of the projects of the land restitution programme have collapsed.
Claimants
say the lethargic pace at which the department is processing their
claims and the lack of adequate after-claim support are behind the
collapse of many farms.
They
described the department’s ambition to redistribute 30% of commercial
farms to black farmers as impossible, saying that even if the department
is able to force through that target, it will be devastating for the
agricultural sector.
William
Mnyandu, one of the claimants and the chairperson of the Ekuthuleni
Community Property Association, said that although they put their claim
in in 1996, they have yet to see any “productive fruits” of that
process.
He
questioned the government’s intention of redistributing 30% of
white-owned farm land to black farmers, saying that will be disastrous
for the country.
“The
government wants to redistribute 30% of the land, but that will mean
that the country has gone down by 30%, because you cannot put the farm
on restitution and then not properly look after it.”
He
cited the lack of operational capacity in the department as the major
cause of the many failures in the land restitution programmes and called
for each of the projects to be assessed and dealt with efficiently to
make them a success.
Richard
Clacey, a board member and treasurer at Afra, labelled the billions of
rand spent on the projects as a poor investment as there were no social
or economic returns. He said those billions could have been better used
elsewhere.
Clacey said the department is failing in its mandate because it is protected by the Constitution.
“Land restitution is in the Constitution so it has to happen and that has protected the department from public scrutiny.”
Source: The Witness 11 December 2009
Afra: rural organisation needs to get its 'bite' back
Thami Magubane, The Witness
The
Association for Rural Advancement (Afra) has lost its bite and needs to
resume mass mobilisation to regain that bite, the organisation was told
during its anniversary celebrations yesterday.
Henson Mchunu, an Afra board member, was outlining the organisation’s way forward.
AFRA is an independent NGO working on land rights and agrarian reform in KwaZulu-Natal. Mchunu
said that despite its many successes, the organisation’s intensity has
waned and it needs to return to playing a meaningful role in land
restitution and fighting for the rights of farm dwellers.
“I
don’t know how or why, but Afra has lost its bite and we need to … put
the organisation back where it belongs and to continue assisting all
those who need its services.”
Mchunu
called on the organisation to be part of mass mobilisations so that it
can climb back to the way it used to be and that will ensure its success
when dealing with challenges.
After
30 years, he said, the organisation is still relevant. “As long as
people are still suffering and are landless, Afra will continue to be
relevant.”
Source: The Witness 11 December 2009
Flawed land reform in need of overhaul, says rural experts
Rigorous and properly documented field research on South Africa’s land reform failure is an imperative if the mistakes of the past 15 years are not to be repeated. And non-government organisations should be subjecting the government to intense scrutiny, holding them to account for failing to resolve land ownership since democracy in 1994.
Senior
members of the Association For Rural Advancement (AFRA), at the
organisation’s 30th anniversary celebrations in Pietermaritzburg last
week, in a panel discussion titled “The great land debate”, also called
on the government to move away form land reform targets that had no
regional relevance. The founder of AFRA and now the head of the
department of sociology at the University of Stellenbosch, Cherryl
Walker, said the government’s “obsession” with transferring 30 percent
of land into the hands of black people by 2014 was deeply flawed and out
of context.
Walker
said issues such as social development and how rural society was
connected to urban areas; environmental challengers and how land reform
had affected the ecology of each region should top the government’s land
reform agenda. “ There can’t be a single debate at national level about
land reform – the government must take more seriously the local and
rural issues,” she said.
An
AFRA board member and former director of land affairs in the region,
Richard Clacey, urged civil society to question the land reform crisis.
“Since 1998, this government has spent R28 billion on land acquisition
and a further R6.3bn is in the pipeline. That means a total of R34.3bn
will be spent by 2011. “What social economic benefits have we gained as a
result? We are battling to keep lights on, our health system is
collapsing and we have a R60bn deficit – this government must be very
sure how it spends money on land because every cent they waste takes
away form socio-economic issues such as HIV/AIDS.
Clacey
said 50 percent of all land reform projects had reportedly collapsed in
KwaZulu-Natal, 87 percent had shown no economic benefits, 85 percent no
social benefits, 86 percent were no longer economically active while 76
percent had had post-transfer plans implemented.
“But
they (the government) are still carrying o n doing the same thing. No
one is asking questions such as how many existing farm workers have
retained their jobs. How many new jobs and livelihoods has the
agricultural sector created, what numbers of productive hectares have
been retained or expanded, what new enterprises have been developed or
what was the gross value add and income per capita?”
He said the government was obsessed with transferring 30 percent of land ownership, while farmers were obsessed with market prices and compensation, with the result that these special interests had seemingly outweighed the general loss suffered by the South African economy.
“Pre-1994,
AFRA recorded every forced removal in KZN. Why haven’t we done the same
kind of recording of data during this post-democracy process? Where is
the empirical research, where are the monitoring missions, the visits by
officials – not acting in narrow interests, but in the public
interests?
“The
government must be forced to ask what they can learn from land reform
to date. And we have to ask ourselves what role AFRA can play in the
process. Why haven’t we been subjecting the government and state
officials to greater scrutiny? While other development countries are
looking at more ways to equip their food produces, our government is
dismantling our most competitive and important industry. They have
hinged our economy on the wealth of our clients but haven’t asked how
are we going to feed the people in those selfsame cities? They have
failed to ask how best can land reform contribute to sustainable
economic and rural growth”
William
Mnyandu, who, in 1996, was given land in the Melmoth district which was
claimed by the local community, said the government should save
projects which already existed. “We cannot celebrate getting our land
back because we are still struggling – after 13 years our land our land
has yet to bear fruit. Even those who have title deeds are nowhere. The
government has promised to hand over 30 percent of land to black people
by 2014. What does this mean? It means that the country will go down by
30 percent, Farms were a priority during the white government’s time –
they trained and improved facilities. “If this government wants to fix
this, they must go project by project and save them one by one.”
John Aitchison
AFRA
director John Aitchison said the organisation, which was founded by a
small group of people who hated injustice and believed that rural issues
were important – was having to reinvent itself to deal with the failure
of the government’s land policies. “The implementation of land reform
has become complex and perplexing. While the relationship between
government and NGO’s, particularly during the Mbeki era, has become
increasingly tense, although there seems to be better engagement now, it
is fragile. AFRA is at a crossroads now. How we deal with land reform,
as an organisation, is now being seriously discussed, “ he said.
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