Reversing apartheid legacy

Highlights of the State of the Nation Address

Only eight million hectares (ha) of arable land have been transferred to black people, which is only 9.8 percent of the 82 million ha of arable land in South Africa.

There has also been a 19 percent decline in households involved in agriculture from 2.9 million in 2011 to 2.3 million households in 2016.

Government will use the Expropriation Act, 1975 (Act 63 of 1975) to pursue land reform and land redistribution, in line with the Constitution. 

The reopening of land claims is also still on hold because the Restitution of Land Rights Amendment Act, 2014 (Act 15 of 2014) was declared invalid by the Constitutional Court.

The Constitutional Court found that the public consultation process facilitated by the National Council of Provinces and some provincial legislatures, did not meet the standard set in the Constitution.

Government will continue to implement other programmes such as the Strengthening the Relative Rights of People Working the Land programme, also known as the 50-50 programme.

By February 2017,13 proposals had been approved, benefiting 921 farm dweller households at a value of R631 million.

Government has appealed to land claimants to accept land instead of financial compensation. Over 90 percent of claims are currently settled through financial compensation, which perpetuates dispossession and also undermines economic empowerment. Government has committed itself to support black smallholder farmers and will implement a commercialisation support programme for 450 of them. Women have been encouraged to consider farming. The 2016 Female Farmer of the Year was Ms Vanecia Janse from the Koukamma Municipality in the Eastern Cape.

Drought relief

To mitigate the drought, government has provided R2.5 billion for livestock feed, water infrastructure, drilling, equipping and refurbishment of boreholes, auction sales and other interventions.

Furthermore, the Industrial Development Corporation and the Land Bank have provided funding of about R500 million to distressed farmers to manage their credit facilities and support with soft loans.

Women emancipation

Government will continue to mainstream the empowerment of women in all government programmes and prioritise women’s access to economic opportunities and, in particular, to business financing and credit.

Funding higher education

Accumulated debt and fast-rising fees have made it harder and harder for students from less-privileged households to enter and stay within the education system until they complete their studies.

In addition to taking over the responsibility to pay the fee increase for the 2016 academic year, government has settled all debt owed by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) students and extended the coverage to larger numbers of students than ever before.

It has announced additional measures aimed at making higher education accessible to more students from working-class families.

Government has provided funds to ensure that no student whose combined family income is up to R600 000 per year will face fee increases at universities and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges in 2017.

All students who qualify for NSFAS loans, and who have been accepted by universities and TVET colleges, will be funded. The university debt of NSFAS qualifying students for 2013, 2014 and 2015 academic years has been addressed. Government has reprioritised R32 billion within government baselines to support higher education.

Government has initiated processes to look into the issue of NSFAS students who study at some universities that charge fees that are higher than the subsidy that NSFAS provides, and thus end up accumulating debt.