Western Cape Government establishes Land Reform Advisory Desk
The Minister of Economic Opportunities, Alan Winde, announced the newly-established Land Reform Advisory Desk (LREAD), based at Casidra‘s head office in Paarl (an implementing agency for the Western Cape Department of Agriculture), to expedite transformation in the province’s agricultural sector. The LREAD’s vision is to address the inequitable distribution of land to accomplish integration of the rural areas into the mainstream economy of the Western Cape.
Minister Winde said, “Speeding up land reform is one of my foremost priorities. The Land Reform Advisory Desk will offer guidance to farmers, community organisations and residents. We are putting our full weight behind efforts to get viable projects going”.
The establishment of the LREAD followed after Minister Winde welcomed the establishment of the National Department of Rural Development and Land Reform’s district land reform committees. The committees, which are convened and chaired by the National Department, have started meeting regularly.
There are six committees in total – one in each of the districts across the province, and the Western Cape Department of Agriculture is represented on all the committees. They are comprised of representatives from national and provincial government, organised agriculture and civil society.
Minister Winde said, “These committees will seek to identify land to meet the land reform goals set out in the National Development Plan (NDP). The NDP has set a target of 20% transfer of agricultural land to previously disadvantaged South Africans by 2030, a goal which we are determined to contribute towards. The Western Cape Government will continue to strengthen the supportive roles we play. One of the tools we use is Casidra‘s Land Reform Advisory Desk and the only way we can achieve the NDP targets is through a collaborative approach. I want to urge all of our partners to work together to escalate the number of land reform projects in our province and improve their rate of success.”
Chief Executive Officer, Michael Brinkhuis, said, “Casidra welcomes this initiative and will strive that this desk delivers its purpose of excellent service to our clients and beneficiaries at large.”
The LREAD will effectively provide planning support to farmers, businesses, municipalities and land owners to structure sustainable land deals for agricultural transformation within the context of the NDP.