AGRI SA

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AGRI SAs PRESENTATION TOTHE PORTFOLIO
COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE AND LAND AFFAIRS
ON FARM EVICTIONS
CAPE TOWN 4 MARCH 2008
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INTRODUCTION

• Very sensitive, emotionally charged and complex
  issue
• Tenure reform programme attempts to balance
  competing rights on the same land
• No reliable statistics on evictions
• Evictions are regulated by a number of laws
• Serious concerns regarding PIE
• Modderklip

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THE CURRENT LAW AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE LAND
SUMMIT

• There is a law dealing with farm evictions
• Shortfalls in the Act
• Amendments effected by Parliament
• Implementation
• Some of the amendments called for by the Land
  Summit of 2005 will either be unconstitutional or
  impractical.

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THE CURRENT LAW AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE LAND
SUMMIT (cont.)

• Moratorium on evictions
• present law (ESTA) is in fact a moratorium on
  illegal evictions
• be unconstitutional
• conflict
• Evictions should always be possible

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PROBLEMS WITH ESTA

• Unintended negative consequences
• drawn out and expensive
• unemployed, adult children
• farm attacks and theft
• conflicts over livestock
• farm values
• no room for new employees.
• new black farmers
• ESTA rights are very easily acquired
• discriminates against rural landowners
• Agri SA has always encouraged and trained its
  members to comply with the provisions of ESTA

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EVICTION STATISTICS

• The Nkuzi-report
• 1 of all these involved a legal process ?
• Independent, reliable research
• Big movement of people from rural to urban areas
  for a variety of reasons
• Number of farming units has decreased from 57980
  in 1993 to 45818 in 2002
• Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs
• released information on so-called cases of
  illegal evictions

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AGRI SAS STANCE ON FARMWORKER HOUSING

• Local forums
• Off-farm solutions
• Services
• Housing strategy

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Agri SA is of the opinion that

• production units
• good quality
• responsibility of the state
• real empowerment
• property rights to a house of their own away from
  the farm
• economic opportunities
• rural development should be a priority
• necessary infrastructure must be in place
• farm workers should receive preferential
  treatment
• compatible with Strategic Plan for the South
  African Agriculture
• ASGISA

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RECOMMENDATIONS

• Farm workers are an integral part of the
  production system on farms
• Receive proper treatment
• Personnel turnover
• On-farm housing
• Like a CCMA type of structure

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Against this background Agri SA wishes to propose
as follows

• The Constitution
• Farmers should remain able and willing to
  accommodate workers on-farm without fear of
  prosecution or disguised expropriation
• Off-farm housing
• Movement from on-farm to off-farm housing
• 5 million ha
• Agri SA fully supports the empowerment of farm
  workers through this initiative
• Local forums

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SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

• Constitution provides for tenure security
• Competing rights on the same land is problematic
• Off-farm option
• Moreover, farm workers are prime candidates for
  LRAD
• Necessary infrastructure
• Priority in terms of LRAD funding or housing in
  rural towns
• Primary role of producers is to produce food and
  fibre for the nation

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THANK YOU