The playing fields have not been levelled in the farming community and black farmers are taking their fight to be treated the same as their white counterparts to the government, with marches in all provinces.
The farmers are calling for government intervention, which includes procuring produce exclusively from black farmers, access to farming land and the linking of land reform to water reform.
A march to the Eastern Cape department of rural development and agrarian reform is set to take place on Tuesday.
Eastern Cape-based farmer Luxolo Shushu said many black farmers who benefitted from the land reform were set up for failure due to a lack of government support.
“Some of them are still waiting for title deeds for claims that were settled 20 years ago. Farmers who have leased the land from the government are being evicted because their leases have expired and they are not given fair opportunity to renew those
leases,” Shushu said.
Shushu said there was no support for farmers in the province.
“We do not have access to the market or tools to assist us to take our livestock to abattoirs. We have to pay for our own transport and that is taking away the profits,” he said.
The National Plas Farmers Association, which is at the forefront of the protest, has called on all farmers to join the action.
Adding her voice to the planned national protest action, Nosipiwo Manona, the designated communications head for the protest action and Azanian People’s Organisation deputy secretary for land and agricultural affairs said the party is in full support of the farmers.
“Black farmers have reached a point of standing united to make clear demands on what hinders progress for farmers,” she said.
“This is long overdue and should not be deserted from this point onwards,” said Manona.
She said black farmers have been relegated to being small-scale, backyard, schoolyard and tyre gardeners since the dawn of the “so-called democracy”.
Manona said: “Not only is this an insult to our potential as farmers working towards food sovereignty, but it also writes us off as useless and clueless as productive commercial farmers.”
She said there is a great divide between white and black farmers.
“If you look around farming areas, there is a world of difference between arable land given to white farmers and the shambles being made available to be used by black farmers.
“To me, this confirms that black farmers of Azania are not regarded by the government as having potential for substantial productivity – you are written off even before you have started farming.”
But the rural development and agrarian reform department said it does not understand the purpose of the march as there have been talks between MEC for rural development and agrarian reform Nonkqubela Pieters and black farmers.
Departmental spokesperson Masiza Mzizi said: “I don’t want to pre-empt the march but as far as we are concerned this march is not about what we are not
doing as a province, but it’s about their glaring concerns about how agriculture is functioning in the country. We have received their letter and the MEC will be there to receive their memorandum.”
Follow @SundayWorldZA on Twitter and @sundayworldza on Instagram, or like our Facebook Page, Sunday World, by clicking here for the latest breaking news in South Africa. To Subscribe to Sunday World, click here.
