The move by Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu to broaden water access to Black producers is an act of velour, according to the Black Agricultural Commodities Federation (BACF) chief executive officer, Dr Moshe Swartz.
In a heavy-worded statement, Swartz backed government Procedural Requirements for Water Use Licence Applications and Amendment as a significant step towards just and reparatory land And water Reforms In South Africa.
The facts in their gory reality are there for all to see, said Swartz.
“A total national allocation of water of just above 400 million cubic meters is inequitably shared between Blacks and Whites.
“The inequity resides in that the indigenous South African producers and all the other Historically Disadvantaged Groups, collectively, pick up the crumbs of 7.5%: a mere 30 million cubic meters. This almost perfectly mirrors the equity that forges on in the land arena,” he said
Good news for land reform
Swartz described the move by Mchunu as courageous with far-reaching consequences for the restoration of economic justice in both water and land reform.
This includes that every producer who has access to more than 100 hectares of land is now, even before these proposals are law, under pressure to share what started, originally, as ill-gotten inheritances, Swarz said.
“This is good news for land reform. What could not be achieved through the “willing-buyer-willing seller” policy of government will have a push effect for more land coming into the land market.
“The nearer to the ‘untaxed’ size of 100-hectare national farms in this country come, contrary to wide-sown deception from AgriSA, the more efficient food production will be, irrespective of colour. This is good news for food security.”
Many farmers will be left unbothered
The proposals from minster Mchunu, are to BCAF a bold step in the just direction. But many White farmers will be left un-bothered, the federation believes.
“Here is a small example. In the Western Cape, research conducted on grape-producing farms in the districts of Robertson, Worcester and De Doorns, shows the mean sizes of farms ranging from 60 Ha in De Doorns; 87 Ha in Robertson to 101 in Worcester. This is just for one commodity, therefore many White producers will go on with their lives unbothered.”
Reparatory tax
Meanwhile, Mchunu has pointed out that every holder of more than a certain size of land for farming must pay a reparatory tax.
“There are shameless “land barons” in our land. Some have clung, generation after generation, to close to 50 000 Ha of land while the majority wallows in abject poverty,” Swartz noted.
The federation said it applauded Mchunu for his courageous proposals and hopes the rest of the government will follow.
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