The Democratic Alliance has been presented with damning evidence, dating as far back as 2008, of both the ANC-led KZN Department of Agriculture and its national counterpart’s failure to offer even the most basic assistance to the Ilembe- based Sakha Amathuba Mphakathi Lulekeka Umsebenzi (SAMLU) Farming and Gardening cooperative.
Last week the DA met with this five member enterprise which currently employs 22 people who work on a 3ha piece of land. Despite the cooperatives ongoing pleas for assistance, all it has received during the last 11 years is a whole lot of empty promises and 20 bags of seed potatoes.
The organisation has also been sent from pillar to post, with government officials coming and promising R250 000 towards the project on one occasion and making further promises on two other occasions. The situation is so dire that the cooperative was eventually forced to take a loan from iThala bank to fence its property, which they are now unable to repay.
The DA regards these revelations as nothing short of disgraceful. There is nothing radical or transformational about corruption and abandoning emerging farmers for 11 years.
We have also been presented with a long list of government officials and politicians who were asked to assist but who have, over the years, failed to deliver on the basic mandate of the Department at both a provincial and national level. We are also told that the cooperative’s desperate calls for assistance even led to a meeting with former President Zuma at his Morningside residence. To date nothing fruitful has come out of that meeting.
This entire debacle is typical of an ANC government which preaches one thing ahead of elections, while the reality on the ground is the opposite.
The DA will take up the fight on behalf of the SAMLU cooperative, in line with our policies of developing emerging farmers and assisting disadvantaged people gain access to opportunities. As such, we have written to the Ilembe District office, the office of KZN’s Agriculture and Rural Development and the Director General at a National level – all of which have been involved since 2008 without any success.
With the recent passing of a more than R2.4 billion Department of Agriculture and Rural Development budget, there can be no more excuses for not helping these or any other emerging farmers. The DA expects that the Ilembe District will respond favourably and quickly to the requests by the SAMLU cooperative for assistance which includes;
- The previously promised irrigation system
- Potato-treated seeds of 100x25kg bags
- Cabbage seeds or seedlings for 1 hectare
- Fertilisers
- 15 hoe sets
- 25 pairs of gumboots
It is increasingly clear that the Ilembe cooperative is not an isolated incident, with the DA having received appeals for help from other similar operations across the province.
The DA will investigate these cases and will hold both the national and provincial Departments of Agriculture to account in the event that there is any indication that they have reneged on their mandate.