16
Principles acceptedby
GrainSA on land reform
G
rain SA’s Executive agreed on the following principles
for land reform on 30 July this year during a meeting at
NAMPOPark, Bothaville.
Constitution of South Africa as a point of
departure
The stipulations, letter and spirit of the Constitution of South
Africa must be the basis of all inputs and discussions with
regards to thedebateon land reform.
GrainSAwill not deviate from the principles as contained in the
Constitution and if needed, will also test these principles in the
highest court of law.
Value of land to bemaintained
The value of land for farming purposes must not be eroded by
theprocess of land reform.
All possible stepsmust be taken to ensure that the value of land
for farmingpurposeswill bemaintained.
Land value is critical for collateral for the purpose of production
loans and tomaintain food security inSouthAfrica.
Compensation for land
Land for farming purposes that is identified for land reform,
must be compensated for by the state, in accordance with the
Constitutionof SouthAfrica.
Compensation to be determined by
market value
If land is to be transferred for the purpose of land reform, the
compensation for this land must be determined by taking the
market value into consideration.
Voluntary participation and sunset clause
Participation in land reformmust be voluntary.
If taking part in the process, theremust be an incentive for the
land owner, as well as a final sunset clause whereby the land
owner will be exempt from any possible future land reform
processes.
Subsidised financial support for
participants
Participation in land reformmust be supported by subsidised
state funds.
Funding of the land reform process
The broader community must contribute to the land reform
process, as producers on their ownwill not be able to fund this.
The failure of land reform will be to the detriment of the
broader civil society in South Africa, impacting on the whole
of the economy. It is therefore imperative that special statutory
measures, for example a Wealth Tax, be considered to gene-
rate income for the fundingof land reform.
The proposed Wealth Tax should include all citizens, but with
a proviso that this be applicable only for an agreed period of
time inorder to conclude the land reformprocess.
To support skills/social development
Producersmust support thedevelopment of skills and the social
development of farmworkers in their regions.
Social and skills development may include structuring salaries
and benefits according to the grading of posts, housing, etc. in
order to assist farmworkers.
National Development Plan (NDP)
Land reform principles as set out in the NDP should be the
guideline tomanage and implement theprocess.
FreeMarket Foundation: Principles and
programme – Private ownership
The initiatives of the Free Market Foundation are supported,
whereby title deeds of state owned houses in townships are
transferred tobeneficiaries topromoteprivateownership.
It is requested that the same principles must be applied to
communal and state owned land, therefore transferring state
owned farms and land in communal areas to individuals, so as
to enable them to use ownership to negotiate production loans
from agribusinesses and/or commercial banks.
Joint ventures
Joint ventures and or partnerships between commercial
producers and beneficiaries must be accepted as one of the
vehicles for land reform.
Differentmodels for joint venturesmust be accepted.
Involvement of agri value chain
The whole agri value chain, including agribusinesses, input
suppliers, the banking sector, agriservice providers, etc. must
accept co-responsibility to support the land reformprocess.
Access to benefits of land reform
Beneficiaries for land reformmust be selected on an inclusive
and broad-based manner and not be restricted to selective
beneficiarieswithpolitical connections.
Beneficiaries to land reformmust also commit to active farming
enterprises to enhance food security.
GRAIN SA
EXECUTIVE,
Grain SA
Oktober 2014
