Resolution On Redistributive Land and Agrarian Reform
The Congress resolves the following in respect of land and agrarian reform:
1. Status of land ownership and delivery
1.1 Expressing concern that the land reform programme has redistributed only 2,9% of commercial agricultural land (2,494 million hectares) since the 1994 democratic breakthrough and at the current rate, the number of years to meet target at the current rate of delivery (which is 250,000 hectares per year);
1.2 Noting that the required rate to meet the target of redistribution of 30% of agricultural land by 2015 is 2,125 million hectares per year;
1.3 Concerned that the continued ownership of prime agricultural land by less than 44,000 white individual commercial farmers and corporate entities who resist accelerated land and agrarian reform;
1.4 Reaffirms that land ownership still reflects apartheid and capitalist land ownership patterns;
1.5 Affirming the demand for land given that there are millions of unused hectares of arable land and there is significant resistance by white farmers and other land-owners to subdivide and sell unused land;
1.6 Noting that the Party has met with The Party has met with AgriSA and it is clear that ongoing mass mobilisation is central;
1.7 Resolves to reaffirm the demands of the 2004 Red October Campaign (Mawubuye Umhlaba) for the release of productive land to the landless including a call to white farmers and other landowners to release land for productive use by the landless;
1.8 Resolves to intensify the land and agrarian reform campaign at all levels;
1.9 Resolves to engage government and other stakeholders over whether the 30% target is an appropriate target for land redistribution and whether there is an appropriate framework, sufficient capacity and resources for the redistribution of land in terms of a comprehensive and integrated land and agrarian reform programme;
2. Land and agrarian reform policy
2.1 Supporting the objectives and pillars of the land reform programme which are land tenure reform, restitution of land rights and redistribution;
2.2 Noting and supporting the additional legislative and policy measures including labour market reforms for farm workers, the Agricultural Credit Scheme, rural public works programmes, the investigation on foreign land ownership, and the newly launched Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme;
2.3 Expressing concern about other legislative and policy measures which do not sufficiently take into account pro-poor land and agrarian reform such as the AgriBEE Charter and the Strategic Plan for Agriculture, which government discussed with land owners and emerging farmers without the voices of farm workers, women and the landless being heard in the process;
2.4 Noting the new Strategic Plan (2005-2010) of the Department of Agriculture which is a significant step forward towards a more integrated land reform framework;
2.5 Believing that the scope of the land reform programme is limited in terms of its developmental objectives, budgets and overall impact on the pattern of property rights;
2.6 Concerned with the emphasis in government policies on the creation of a new class of black commercial farmers possibly at the expense of the rural poor and landless without necessarily redistributing land and transforming the agricultural sector;
2.7 Believing that the market-based focus of the land reform programme and therefore lack of interference with existing property rights is not line with the constitutional mandate for land reform and a developmental economic logic;
2.8 Noting that market-based land reform is a feature of contemporary neo-liberalism on a global scale characterised by a paramount role for the private sector, the deregulation of certain markets, nationally and internationally, and a much-reduced role for the state in both regulatory and productive activities;
2.9 Believing that the "willing-buyer, willing-seller" principle subjects land reform to the interests of land owners and is out of step with the intentions and spirit of the Constitution;
2.10 Noting that non-market measures, such as expropriation, are available to the state, but have not been used to date;
2.11 Believing that section 25, the so-called property clause, of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa sets out the legal basis for, and provides the state with a mandate to implement land reform, whilst at the same time providing protection of private property rights subject to limitations in the public interest;
2.12 Reaffirms the reading of the property clause which affirms that the right to property is not absolute to mean that property may not only be subject to restriction or regulation by the state but may even be expropriated;
2.13 Believes that in a future socialist South Africa, the property rights regime will have to reviewed including formulating an appropriate socialist approach to property rights, nationalisation of land and whether the state should be the custodian of all land rights as it is the case in mineral rights;
2.14 Noting key weaknesses in the land reform programme including neglect of post-transfer support for land reform beneficiaries and insufficient integration of land reform with a wider programme of rural development and agrarian reform;
2.15 Believing that land and agrarian reform must be informed and shaped by the goals of building sustainable livelihoods, the revival of the rural economy and the transformation of the agricultural sector;
2.16 Aware that the history of agricultural development in South Africa has shaped the highly capitalised and competitive nature of the dominant commercial producers and processors, making it extremely difficult for small-holders to enter the market
2.17 Arguing that land and agrarian reform are not just rights-based and legal, but in our context are actually about a sustainable and progressive ECONOMIC logic, buttressed by mass organisation and mobilisation, in order to transform and roll-back the capitalist market;
2.18 Believing that land reform needs to be subjected to a rigorous class and gender analysis in terms of who currently has access to land (particularly within the former homeland areas), who is benefiting from land reform programmes, what relations of labour are emerging, both on large commercial enterprises and within households, and how we balance the interests of so-called emerging farmers with those of the desperately poor;
2.19 Expressing concern about the backlog and other problems in the land restitution and claims process;
2.20 Noting the research being done by Rural Legal Trust on evictions since 1994;
2.21 Opposed to evictions of farm workers, labour tenants and other farm dwellers and concerned with the many loopholes in the relevant legislation on security of tenure and evictions;
2.22 Resolves that the Party must engage government, civil society, rural people and the landless on the scope of the land reform programme, the AgriBEE Charter, the Strategic Plan for Agriculture, the new Strategic Plan (2005-2010) of the Department of Agriculture and the process to consolidate existing tenure legislation in order to address current weaknesses which allow evictions and increases vulnerability of those with insecure land tenure;
2.23 Resolves that the Party must also engage all these forces mentioned above and campaign actively on its concerns on the Communal Land Rights Act;
2.24 Resolves that the Party must take forward its work of rolling back the shift away from land reform as a programme aimed at the rural poor and landless to one aimed at the creation of a new class of commercial farmers including the development of practical alternatives on post-transfer support and the integration of land reform within a wider programme of rural development and agrarian reform;
2.25 Calls on government to review the market-based land reform programme and the willing-seller, willing-buyer principle;
2.26 Calls for a state-led, redistributive and developmental land reform programme integrated with a similar agrarian reform programme;
2.27 Calls on the Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs to expropriate unused land and for the acceleration of land redistribution as provided for in the constitution and legislation;
2.28 Calls on the Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs to introduce into legislation of the "use-it or lose-it" principle and a progressive land tax for all unused land;
2.29 Opposes anti-poor legislation including new by-laws in some municipalities that prohibit the husbandry of cattle and other domestic animals in certain urban residential areas;
2.30 Resolves to campaign against this anti-poor legislation prohibiting animal husbandry in urban areas
2.31 Calls on municipalities to provide land for commonage, and to identify and release farms and other productive land for productive use by the landless;
2.32 Calls on municipalities to withdraw legislation against animal husbandry in urban areas;
2.33 Resolves to work towards the integration of an appropriate pro-poor land and agrarian reform logic and framework into the IDPs and LED strategies of municipalities;
2.34 Calls for the establishment of consultative and representative Local Land Forums at the district level which must:
" include the landless, rural dwellers, farm-workers, women, trade unions, local government, traditional leaders, relevant government departments, land-owners and other relevant stakeholders and role-players;
" be structures for engagement and social dialogue around district-level land and agrarian reform issues and demands;
2.35 Resolves to intensify work and campaigns to test the limits of Section 25 of the Constitution (the so-called property rights clause) through struggling for change in relevant market-based policies and legislation, constitutional challenges through test cases affecting communities, the local-level mobilisation of communities, and informed progressive public debate on property rights;
2.36 Mandates the Central Committee to develop an approach and programme of action on problems in the land restitution process and restitution claims;
2.37 Directs branches and districts to undertake local initiatives and programmes of action regarding problems in the land restitution process and restitution claims including the mobilisation of claimants;
2.38 Reaffirms the Party's call for a moratorium on all evictions;
2.39 Directs branches and districts to undertake local campaigns and programmes against evictions and in response to threatened evictions;
2.40 Mandates the CC to consolidate the Party's programmatic and policy perspectives on agrarian reform focusing on the following specific issues:
" Improvements in both security of tenure;
" Restructuring of the predominantly capitalist organisation of agricultural industry and markets;
" Rural development measures;
" Food security and the restructuring of the capitalist agricultural food chain;
" Restructuring of commodity markets;
" Complete reordering of agricultural service structures in order to ensure access to finance and credit, extension and support services, research services, markets, farm-input supply, infrastructure (roads, fencing, irrigation, storage, processing facilities, etc.);
" Pro-poor transformation of Agricultural Colleges, SETAs and other education and training bodies for capacity building and skills training for beneficiaries of land reform, the landless and rural dwellers;
" Access to, democratic control and use of water and other natural resources on a sustainable ecological and environmental basis and in line with land and agrarian reform;
" Review of the role of the Land Bank; and
" Our approach to building progressive land-based and agricultural co-operatives and their associations/organisations for vertical and horizontal linkages.
2.42 Calls for an Agriculture Sectoral Summit in line with the 1998 Presidential Jobs Summit and the 2003 Growth and Development Summit in order to address the above issues and to develop an industrial strategy to transform the agricultural sector as outlined above and to stop job losses and contribute to job creation in the sector;
2.43 Calls for the integration of the above perspectives in the Party's Medium-Term Vision (MTV) including the debate on the issue of the nationalisation of land and desireability of the state being the custodian of all land rights;
3. Mobilisation of the motive forces for redistributive land and agrarian reform
3.1 Supporting the rights of farm workers to join trade unions, protect their rights, work in a safe and healthy environment and earn a living wage;
3.2 Supporting the rights of the landless, rural dwellers, farm workers, labour tenants and other farm dwellers to basic services such as water, electricity, housing, health, food, education and social security;
3.3 Noting that the landless, rural dwellers, farm workers, labour tenants and other farm dwellers are vulnerable to abuse, violence and racism at the hands of land owners without any recourse to justice;
3.4 Noting that landless people, small-scale farmers, landless, rural dwellers, farm workers, labour tenants and other farm dwellers are largely unorganised and have little support in organising;
3.5 Noting the reality of land occupation;
3.6 Resolves that the Party, at all levels, must intensify of working and building tactical and strategic alliances with the landless, rural dwellers, existing organisations of the landless, trade unions and land rights organisations around local issues and demands including the organisation of farm workers;
3.7 Directs branches and districts of the Party to act in a democratic and non-sectarian manner to build and strive to be the leading political force at the core of People's Land Committees which must:
" aim to bring together farm workers, youth, women, small farmers, existing Communal Property Associations, rural & land organisations, and agricultural co-ops (where they exist);
" encourage learning from each other;
" formulate local demands and actions;
" strategise and struggle together around the Local Land Forums and local demands and issues;
" sustain mobilisation; and
" act as a base for consciousness building, capacity building, strategising, planning, networking, mobilisation of resources & ongoing action.
3.8 Directs the CC and provinces to capacitate branches and districts organisationally, politically and programmatically in the building of PLCs and the political economy of land and agrarian reform through targeted and sustained political education and cadreship development;
3.9 Resolves to prioritise the organisation and the building of the capacity, voices, representation and leadership of women in the PLCs, Local Land Forums and other appropriate structures and forums;
3.10 Directs branches and districts to implement the integrate the Know Your Neighbourhood-Basic Services for All Campaign in the land and agrarian reform campaign and in the work of building the PLCs;
3.11 Directs branches and districts to monitor living and working conditions in farms and undertake local campaigns on cases of abuse, exploitation and racism;
3.12 Directs the CC to develop a framework on the occupation of land in relation to whether it can be used effectively in a disciplined and orderly way in the struggle for land linked to mass-driven land audits, local land needs, mobilisation around unused land, and the productive use of land;
3.13 Calls on the CC to engage the Rural Legal Trust on its research on evictions as a base for identifying issues and local areas around which to start and sustain mass mobilisation based on real local demands and issues; and
3.14 Calls on branches and districts to work with existing advice centres and building new ones; and
3.15 Direct branches and districts to use the above struggles and the building of PLCs to build Party structures in farms and rural areas.
4. The Land Summit
4.1 Welcoming the announcement by the Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs to hold a National Land Summit;
4.2 Concerned that the June-July date announced by the Minister is earlier than anticipated and this may affect preparations, the agenda, objectives and outcomes of the Summit;
4.3 Calls on the Central Committee to develop an approach to the Summit which must include consideration of the following:
4.3.1 an SACP position paper on the Land Summit;
4.3.2 the minimum issues the Summit must address;
4.3.3 the consideration of the June-July Summit as the first part of a multi-part Summit and social dialogue process whose modalities, content and time-frame can be decided by the June-July Summit;
4.3.4 the mobilisation of the landless and consolidation and tabling of their demands before and after the Summit;
4.3.5 the holding of Provincial Land Summits;
4.3.6 mass-driven land audits as part of the Summit and social dialogue process to focus on:
" land needs against the land that is available not just agricultural land but mining, tourism and other land
" details of number of people that have received land through land redistribution process and whether they have put the land to sustainable use
" mobilisation to expose the current situation with respect to the imbalances in the current situation
4.3.7 Whether the convenor of the Summit should be NEDLAC or government;
4.4 Calls on Party branches and districts to prepare for mass mobilisation around the Summit and social dialogue process in particular the collection of land and agrarian demands from our people through district-level land audits and conferences and people's forums of the landless; and
4.5 Calls on Party provinces to capacitate Party branches and districts and to prepare for Provincial Land Summits.