Following concerns by organised agriculture in the Free State, the provincial government has said it will stand by its decision to change the Comprehensive Agriculture Support Programme (Casp) from vouchers to a tender system – something that does not go down well with farmers.
Farmers in the province have asked why the Casp model was being changed as it has been working well without challenges. They are afraid that a more tedious and “corrupt” tender process will kick in.
‘We want accountability’
The MEC of agriculture in the Free State, Saki Mokoena, called a meeting with all organised groups in the province to outline why the sudden changes were necessary.
There have been concerns raised about corruption. maladministration, time-wasting, and bribery should the system be changed. However, Mokoena promised farmers that the change would not mean that the support they got from the government was going to be impacted in any way.
According to Free State agriculture department spokesperson Zimasa Mbewu, the department was not able to account to the auditor general how the grant funding transferred to farmers was spent once it was in their bank accounts, which has been a big challenge for the department.
“We want to be able to account for every penny, which is the taxpayers’ money that leaves the department.
“Secondly, we noticed irregularities in the transfer system/voucher system that needed to be corrected. Any system that does no longer serve a purpose can be reviewed to ensure its effectiveness,” she said.
Common goals
Mbewu said government programmes were made to benefit the majority of the province’s population and to grow the economy, adding that the department was satisfied that they have dealt with the issue and have engaged with stakeholders.
“Organised agriculture was represented in the engagements and their inputs were received. Our goal is to grow the economy of the province. The department cannot abandon its responsibility of accounting for government spending to its beneficiaries as was done through the transfer system.
“So we are rectifying this. Also, we would like to state that the department is not bringing back implementing agents as mentioned earlier by some groups. That was scrapped a long time ago and cannot be used as a channel anymore,” she added.
Accepting the inevitable
Piet Motlepu, Free State acting chairperson and African Farmers Association of South Africa (Afasa) Grains Commodity Chamber national executive committee member, said that farmers are happy with the government’s explanation regarding the change of the system from vouchers to tenders.
“He was very honest in telling us the challenges faced by the department, adding that the minister indicated that for many years the department has been putting money into the farmer’s projects but the success of those projects cannot be measured.
“The MEC wants to see progress which includes the empowerment of youth and women. We proposed letting the new tendering system be monitored by commodity organisations with the department’s support,” he explained.
Motlepu said Afasa was happy with the new system and the engagement with the department was going to continue to ensure that the new system benefits farmers across the province.
Motlepu also believes that it is time that those who are assisted by the department graduate and produce bankable financial statements.
Monitoring the new tender system
Meanwhile, Free State Agriculture commercial manager Jack Armour told Food For Mzansi that he will be watching very carefully how this state support programme (Casp) is going to be rolled out, adding that the MEC assured them that beneficiaries would get their support on time.
“Whether they will be getting value for the state (our taxpayers’) money spent on the programme is yet to be seen.
“What I do agree with is that far too little value-adding gets done in the Free State. This should be addressed by giving help to those small-town and informal settlement entrepreneurs who are already helping themselves. We would like to see the return on investment of all the students sent abroad to study agro-processing,” he said.
Many farmers have said they might be accepting the proposed changes for now but, have promised to keep a close eye on how the new system is rolled out.
ALSO READ: Free State Casp system: Why fix something that isn’t broken?
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