Gugile Nkwinti – praag.org

Blade says Nkandla is white people’s lies

Blade telling Nkwinti to take white farms, not mines

Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande and member of the SACP has described what is being written about President Jacob Zuma and his Nkandla residence as “white people’s lies”.

He has been the General Secretary of the South African Communist Party since 1998.

Nzimande was speaking at an event to honour President Zuma held at the University of Zululand, at KwaDlangezwa.

Nzimande has heaped praise on President Zuma, saying it is appropriate to honour him for his contribution to peace in KwaZulu-Natal and education in the country.

He’s dismissed as “lies perpetuated by white people” reports about Nkandla and Zuma.

In 2007 Malawian businessman Charles Modise claimed he made a R500,000 donation to the South African Communist Party in 2002.

He claimed he gave the money, packed in black plastic bags, to Willy Madisha, who in turn swore he transported the money in the boot of his car to SACP general secretary Nzimande. However, Nzimande denied ever receiving the money, also calling the allegations “lies perpetuated by white people”.

Despite being a Communist, Mzimande is against the nationalisation of mines, strangely stating that it is not “inherently progressive” as it depended on which class interests were being advanced.

Nzimande supports the accelerated transfer of white-owned land to blacks however and warned earlier that South Africa would become like Zimbabwe if whites continue to own land.

Nzimande said the people needed to know why banks were still financing farmers using the “same [free market] methods used during apartheid”.

“One of the biggest obstacles facing land reform is the willing buyer-willing seller principal,” he said.

He said with that principle, it was those who already owned the land—and not the landless—who benefited.

Nkwinti backs down on land reform

Farm productivity is considered by Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti to be more important than ensuring 30% of agricultural land is black-owned by 2014, Beeld reported on Tuesday.

Speaking at the launch of the Land Bank’s annual report on Monday, Nkwinti reportedly said his main goal was ensuring 100% productivity on land transferred in the reform programme.

Nkwinti said that for government, the issue was not about the pursuit of targets, and he had not determined any target that 30% of the land should be in black hands by next year, the newspaper reported.

“It was a sentimental statement at that time. No one explained it to me and I am also not pursuing it.”

It was important to ensure that farms already transferred were productive, because this would help feed the country’s people and provide jobs.

For this reason, his department had spent about 25% of its budget on the recapitalisation of land.

He reportedly denied that the land reform programme had failed because not enough land had been transferred.

“We are moving from a quantitative approach to a qualitative one.”

Nkwinti said of the 79,000 land claims lodged so far, only about 6,000 claimants had indicated they would prefer land.

The rest stated that they would rather have the money as compensation. – Sapa

Government wants to stop redistributed land being used as collateral

Government is working on a plan that would help prevent redistributed land being used as collateral by banks, Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti said.

“We know that when people are in trouble, they go to the bank and use it [their land] as collateral, and the land is taken away,” he said at a televised The New Age breakfast briefing.

“We don’t want them to lose their land for a second time.”

Nkwinti was referring to the Khoi-San people and their descendants, whose land was dispossessed after the 1913 Natives Land Act, and who are now benefiting from land restitution and financial compensation.

Nkwinti noted that the Khoi-San people had lost land even before 1913. – SAPA

Land redistribution was not only about owning land, but also about production and sustaining it.

He said government wanted every household to be treated like a basic production unit.

Land affairs minister damaging investor confidence in South Africa – Agri SA

Policy uncertainty is affecting investor confidence in the country, farmer union Agri SA president Johannes Möller said on Tuesday.

“It is important to guard against South Africa being seen as a risky, unstable and uncompetitive economy by investors,” he said in a statement.

“A visible lack of consensus on economic and social policy is undermining the feasibility of the National Development Plan and confidence in the country as an investment destination.”

Möller said that in light of the decline of the rand last week, the country’s economy paid a “high price” for uncertainty and its handling of problems in the labour market.

“The negative sentiment extends further than mere concern about wage demands and violent unrest,” he said.

“It is exacerbated by sharp increases in administered prices, such as those of electricity and fuel; unhappiness with and mass action due to poor service delivery; and, alarming statements regarding property-related issues.”

He said parliamentary debates on budget votes served as guidelines that local and foreign investors responded to.

Möller said Agriculture Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson’s budget speech was “moderate”, and her support for farmworker organisations could contribute to further unrest in the industry.

He said Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti’s budget speech ended on a “low note”.

Nkwinti said on Friday it was an “honour” to have South Africa’s land reform process compared to what had happened in Zimbabwe.

Möller said he hoped Nkwinti’s comments on land reform were made “in the heat of the debate”.

“However, the potential damage that remarks of this nature can cause should not be underestimated.”

Government had developed good policy documents, which would result in a better society if implemented effectively.

“The National Development Plan is a good example of this, which should be used more consistently by all role-players,” he said. – Sapa