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Eviction of Farm Workers. Briefing to the Select Committee 21st August 2007 DDG: Land and Tenure Reform, Mr. Mduduzi Shabane. Renewing our Pledge A national partnership to build a better life for all. Outline of presentation. Background Current interventions New interventions
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Eviction of Farm Workers Briefing to the Select Committee 21st August 2007 DDG: Land and Tenure Reform, Mr. Mduduzi Shabane Renewing our Pledge A national partnership to build a better life for all
Outline of presentation • Background • Current interventions • New interventions • Conclusions
Background • Two pieces of legislation enacted to deal specifically with people on farms (ESTA and LTA) • DLA leads the implementation with different stakeholders collaborating. • No adequate data has been available to assess the impact of these interventions.
Background continued • DLA partnered with Nkunzi Development Association on a study to obtain accurate information on the nature, extent and impact of evictions from farms. • Assessing the period between 1984 to 2004. • Intended to inform policy debates and interventions. • Findings – just below 2 million people were evicted from farms.1% were illegal evictions. • Main drivers: drought, interventions of legislation such as sectoral determination of salaries, change of farm operations into game farming
Current interventions • Current interventions are basic and inadequate due to among other things: • Limited capacity within DLA • Few attorneys willing to act on behalf of farm dwellers • Weak land NGO’s – funding • Poor organization of farm dwellers
Current interventions • Legal Representation and mediation services as an interim; • DLA partnered with the Rural Legal Trust and the Legal Aid Board. • Funded the provision of these services. • Services offered through provincial affiliates of the RLT. • Where necessary PLRO’s do instruct private attorneys through internal budget.
New interventions • Land Summit called for the review of both ESTA and LTA. • Three studies were commissioned by DLA to: • One: To establish near accurate information on farm dwellers and their living conditions – country wide. • Two: To look at how much the legislative intervention meets the Constitutional promise of providing tenure security. • Three: To look into the enforcement and compliance environment.
New Interventions cont… • Findings of the study one • Farm Dweller estimation survey completed and the following are some of the findings.
New Interventions cont… • These findings now guide further interventions and assist in meeting the Presidential Priorities re: land delivery and provision of long term tenure security through proactive land acquisition. • PLRO’s will also overlay this information on their Area Based Land Reform Plans (ABP) initiatives.
New Interventions cont… • Findings of the study two and three • Still to be presented to the Department • Studies still work in progress
New Interventions Land Rights Management Facility • Objectives • To offer a basket of options on land rights and tenure issues. • Legal Representation, • Mediation of disputes and settlement thereof, • Evictions Monitoring, and • Raising Land Rights Awareness and promoting access to services and products offered by the DLA through Call Centre. • Training of stakeholders on applicable legislations and policies • Establishment of District, Provincial and National Fora
New Interventions Land Rights Management Facility • Internal consultation on the concept conducted. • DG’s of Land Affairs, Justice and National Treasury to agree that DLA will fund from its voted funds for legal representation of farm dwellers. • Design and establishment of land rights facility by end of September. • An agreement between DLA and DOJ to use the NYS for training of new attorneys.
Conclusions • Many Farm Dwellers are yet to enjoy the fruits of freedom. • monitoring of evictions and rapid response should improve will the role out of the LRMF which will have a Call Centre (Toll-Free number). • Farm Dwellers will become the priority focus of the DLA in land acquisition. • New land acquisition model for farm dwellers has been developed and is subject to approval by relevant authorities • Awareness on land rights and products to people on farms is getting a focus.
END Thank you