Agri minister Thoko Didiza and other officials took a tour of some of the farming operations as part of a ceremony to hand over title deeds to successful land claimants in KwaZulu-Natal. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi
Celebrations were the order of the day when Mzansi’s agri minister officiated various handovers in the past month to new land owners and other farmers across the country.
In the latest handover, agriculture, land reform and rural development minister Thoko Didiza officially handed over title deeds to the new owners of land-claim property in KwaZulu-Natal.
The ceremony took place on Friday (26 August 2022) and was also attended by KwaZulu-Natal agriculture and rural development MEC Bongiwe Sithole-Moloi.
The celebrations in Port Shepstone concluded a successful land claim that saw the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights procure the land at a cost of R282 million.
According to the national department of agriculture, land reform and rural development, the settlement of the claim will benefit more than 6 000 beneficiaries from the Nzimakwe, Mbotho, Juluku and Ndwalane communities.
The farms are currently producing timber, sugarcane, macadamia nuts and bananas, and almost 50% of the beneficiaries are from women-headed households.
The department says it is especially pleased to finalise the claim – which will benefit so many women – while Women’s Month is still celebrated.
Didiza also handed over equipment to farming cooperatives in the area.
Earlier this month, she also handed over agricultural equipment to small-scale farmers of Thembelihle in the Saldanha area in the Western Cape.
The farmers have received infrastructure support of more than R6 million from the department.
The fully functional cooperative leases 112 hectares of land from the Saldanha Bay local municipality and farmers have received support for fencing, a kraal and handling facility, water tanks, diesel generators and office space and storage in the form of containers.
The economic development, trade and marketing division of the department also facilitated the purchase of a bakkie and cattle trailer for the cooperative.
Its farming activities centre around goats, pigs, cattle, poultry, and vegetables.
The minister attended the handovers despite August having been a troubled month in which her department had to deal with a citrus crisis in Europe, a ban on South African wool in China and an increasingly problematic spread of foot-and-mouth disease in the country.
Officials have since negotiated the release of some South African citrus in European ports and the unbanning of wool imports in China. The department has also instituted a 21-day ban on the movement of cattle in Mzansi in a bid to curb further spread of the contagious viral disease.
ALSO READ: Wool ban: ‘Our thanks to govt for talking to China’
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