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Land reform a challenge to disadvantaged communities in EC

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The slow pace of land reform is also frustrating disadvantaged communities in the Eastern Cape.

Land Reform Committees in the province are accusing the Rural Development and Land Reform department of dragging its feet with land acquisition programs.

The committees made the call at an Imbizo discussing the “One Hectare One Household Programme”.

The “One Hectare One Household” concept aims to revitalise rural communities, through small scale agricultural development. But for potential beneficiaries, this programme is not moving fast enough.

Land Reform committee Joe Gqabi says:”The office should have taken about 50 days to finish evaluation and make opinion as to how much land should be purchased but now when it takes so long it’s more than eight months now and financial year is around the corner and sellers of farms or land have decided to plant.”

Chief Siseko Maqoma says:”What we are also having an issue with is that a lot of our land is used for communal farming, we want to take the well-endowed land and the excess water to create commercial projects that can sustain and be successful for many years.”

The department says it values the input from the ground.

Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform Mcebisi Skwatsha says:”We feel that it’s better that the local people who know better than us in Pretoria should be the one that take such decisions, so the programme is on motion, it needs fine tuning we will be getting proper feedback today from people.”

More than 1000 families have been allocated a hectare of land through this project, since it was launched two years ago.

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