Rural Development
Vote: Venue: Date: Speaker:
39 NATIONAL ASSEMBLY 8 May 2015 William Madisha
RURAL DEVELOPMENT Speaker, In terms of the expropriation bill, the State would be empowered to take Property upfront by Notice of expropriation to the owner and leave it to those affected to seek redress in the Courts. Common law dictates that the State cannot simply seize property. Apart here from, the Constitution itself sets out a number of requirements that must be fulfilled for a lawful expropriation to take effect. The expropriation Bill, in its current format is both unlawful and unconstitutional. The Bill in its present form, is draconian, giving all State entities the power to take from Farmers, Firms, Miners and Ordinary South Africans, their most important asset. Instead of Building a Nation, building Social Cohesion, building a winning economy, the ANC is intent on destruction. The Bill:
Undermines property and home ownership
Will deter growth, investment and job creation
Contradicts the NDP
Is counterproductive to the eradication of unemployment, poverty and inequality
That changes are required to the current expropriation Legislation is a given fact. What is also a given fact is that the current Expropriation Bill is unlawful, unconstitutional and counterproductive to the wellbeing of our Nation. The pressure on our cities, like the cities elsewhere in the world, is enormous and unrelenting. This is attributable to the failure of rural development. The mandate of the Department is to create an equitable and sustainable land dispensation. As such, it must serve as a catalyst for rural development We hear the Department endlessly repeating its mission of creating sustainable rural livelihoods, decent work, social development and economic advancement for all. We give the Department 5 out of 100 for its efforts. It is a dismal and tragic failure. The people from the rural areas continue to move out because there is no development where they live.
Restitution remains unfinished business. Those given land have generally not made a go of it because of multiple reasons. These remain unaddressed. The Department has also failed in expeditiously designating land and or allowing subdivisions for the development of settlements. No wonder frustrated people continue to invade land and create unplanned informal settlements. These therefore lack basic infrastructure and services. This is intolerable. The Department has the power under the Communal Property Associations Act (1996) to enable communities to form communal property associations to acquire, hold and manage property. Lack of imagination has meant that this Act remains grossly underutilised. Under this Act, cohousing could flourish in South Africa and address many social and economic issues. The simultaneous provision of individual homes and shared facilities is what we desperately need. Sharing economic activities will transform our economy in double quick time. If the Department recognises that we have a crisis on our hands, it will use the Transformation of Certain Rural Areas Act (1998) to transfer land to municipalities and certain other legal entities. All rural areas must have a feel of the urban and all urban areas should have rich rural surroundings. There should be no new apartheid. The rural and the urban must exist in a contiguous manner. The best of both worlds must apply to urban and rural areas. In India, for example, colleges of education are strewn all along the countryside. Informal settlements in our country show the dismal failure of implementing the Planning Act (1991). Instead of orderly physical development, we see developments mushrooming without the benefit of proper zoning and planning. This is a severe indictment on the government.
The poor are left to fend for themselves. The ruling party is keen to get their votes but unwilling to give them a better life. For many years we read of slow service and corruption at the Deeds Registries. Will the Minister please tell us what is going on there. I now wish to address the question of Sectional Titles. Many young South Africans are struggling economically. Has the Department prepared any literature or used the public broadcaster to inform South Africans of the opportunity to own property through sectional title? Joint ownership in common property offers a person the opportunity to own rather than rent accommodation. COPE believes that the Department has done nothing at all to educate people at schools, colleges and universities of the opportunities offered by sectionalising a title. Finally, the Department must become creative and dynamic in the use of the the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act (2013). We ask the department to place before us its integrated rural development plans. Minister, please show us one vibrant, equitable and sustainable rural community in each province. One prototype or example in each province will breed a revolution. Don’t give us words. Give us a prototype. The Department gets 5 out of 100 for this year.
39 NATIONAL ASSEMBLY 8 May 2015 William Madisha
RURAL DEVELOPMENT Speaker, In terms of the expropriation bill, the State would be empowered to take Property upfront by Notice of expropriation to the owner and leave it to those affected to seek redress in the Courts. Common law dictates that the State cannot simply seize property. Apart here from, the Constitution itself sets out a number of requirements that must be fulfilled for a lawful expropriation to take effect. The expropriation Bill, in its current format is both unlawful and unconstitutional. The Bill in its present form, is draconian, giving all State entities the power to take from Farmers, Firms, Miners and Ordinary South Africans, their most important asset. Instead of Building a Nation, building Social Cohesion, building a winning economy, the ANC is intent on destruction. The Bill:
Undermines property and home ownership
Will deter growth, investment and job creation
Contradicts the NDP
Is counterproductive to the eradication of unemployment, poverty and inequality
That changes are required to the current expropriation Legislation is a given fact. What is also a given fact is that the current Expropriation Bill is unlawful, unconstitutional and counterproductive to the wellbeing of our Nation. The pressure on our cities, like the cities elsewhere in the world, is enormous and unrelenting. This is attributable to the failure of rural development. The mandate of the Department is to create an equitable and sustainable land dispensation. As such, it must serve as a catalyst for rural development We hear the Department endlessly repeating its mission of creating sustainable rural livelihoods, decent work, social development and economic advancement for all. We give the Department 5 out of 100 for its efforts. It is a dismal and tragic failure. The people from the rural areas continue to move out because there is no development where they live.
Restitution remains unfinished business. Those given land have generally not made a go of it because of multiple reasons. These remain unaddressed. The Department has also failed in expeditiously designating land and or allowing subdivisions for the development of settlements. No wonder frustrated people continue to invade land and create unplanned informal settlements. These therefore lack basic infrastructure and services. This is intolerable. The Department has the power under the Communal Property Associations Act (1996) to enable communities to form communal property associations to acquire, hold and manage property. Lack of imagination has meant that this Act remains grossly underutilised. Under this Act, cohousing could flourish in South Africa and address many social and economic issues. The simultaneous provision of individual homes and shared facilities is what we desperately need. Sharing economic activities will transform our economy in double quick time. If the Department recognises that we have a crisis on our hands, it will use the Transformation of Certain Rural Areas Act (1998) to transfer land to municipalities and certain other legal entities. All rural areas must have a feel of the urban and all urban areas should have rich rural surroundings. There should be no new apartheid. The rural and the urban must exist in a contiguous manner. The best of both worlds must apply to urban and rural areas. In India, for example, colleges of education are strewn all along the countryside. Informal settlements in our country show the dismal failure of implementing the Planning Act (1991). Instead of orderly physical development, we see developments mushrooming without the benefit of proper zoning and planning. This is a severe indictment on the government.
The poor are left to fend for themselves. The ruling party is keen to get their votes but unwilling to give them a better life. For many years we read of slow service and corruption at the Deeds Registries. Will the Minister please tell us what is going on there. I now wish to address the question of Sectional Titles. Many young South Africans are struggling economically. Has the Department prepared any literature or used the public broadcaster to inform South Africans of the opportunity to own property through sectional title? Joint ownership in common property offers a person the opportunity to own rather than rent accommodation. COPE believes that the Department has done nothing at all to educate people at schools, colleges and universities of the opportunities offered by sectionalising a title. Finally, the Department must become creative and dynamic in the use of the the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act (2013). We ask the department to place before us its integrated rural development plans. Minister, please show us one vibrant, equitable and sustainable rural community in each province. One prototype or example in each province will breed a revolution. Don’t give us words. Give us a prototype. The Department gets 5 out of 100 for this year.
