Annelize Crosby, Advisor Legal and Land Affairs, Parliamentary Liaison reports

The management committee of Agri SA’s Transformation Committee met the Director-General of the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform and the Restitution Commission in Pretoria on 3 May 2012.

Agri SA requested the meeting to talk about a way forward with restitution. The restitution process has been dragging on for some 18 years and the uncertainty caused by the outstanding claims have had material negative consequences on investment in the agricultural sector.

Dr Theo de Jager put it to the meeting that whole industries such as the tea and coffee industry has been lost partly because of the fact that restitution has been dragging on for so long. Restitution also impacts on redistribution and black empowerment through AgriBEE. Agri SA was concerned that there was no clear direction within the Department on a way forward with restitution. The Green Paper has little to say about the future of restitution.

The Director-General assured the Agri SA delegation however that restitution was once again a priority. A new chief land claims commissioner, Ms Gobodo has been appointed together with a few new staff members. Universities will be approached to assist with the research of outstanding claims and the restitution budget has been boosted by R1 billion.

There are 8770 outstanding claims at present. A new strategy for restitution was being formulated and once internal discussion on it has been finalized, the Department will engage stakeholders such as Agri SA on it. The DG further stated that they are looking at setting up alternate dispute resolution structures. A new unit has been created that will focus on social facilitation.