December 2010

By Kemantha Govender

Durban - Government has set out to find new ways to deal with some of the difficulties it faces in its land reform programme. It has taken a grassroots level approach, which it hopes will uncover deeper issues and be the catalyst for innovative solutions.

"We are all aware that land reform has not always produced the intended results ... it is therefore imperative that we find more pragmatic solutions for land reform," said Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti.

He met with people from all over KwaZulu-Natal to iron out issues around government's land reform programme. The meeting, held at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Convention Centre, was also attended by Premier Zweli Mkhize and MEC for Agriculture, Environmental Affairs and Rural Development, Lydia Johnson.

Traditional leaders, municipal heads and labour tenants were given an opportunity to highlight their challenges and also come up with proposed solutions.

Nkwinti said one such solution was the Recapitalisation and Development Programme, which seeks to guarantee food security, create employment opportunities and graduate small scale farmers into commercial farmers.

Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma says the time has come for "concrete action" to develop Africa's infrastructure.
"We have done enough planning in the continent … it's either we (leave) things as they are and let Africa trail behind forever or we do something about our infrastructure in order to develop like others," Zuma said at a NEPAD Infrastructure Experts meeting in Pretoria on Friday.

He said for almost two centuries, Africa's development has been dominated by extractive industries specialising in taking the continent's minerals and commodities to foreign markets.

The meeting, which brought together heads of agencies and technical experts from across Africa, is a follow up to the African Union meeting held in Kampala in July, which decided to prioritise infrastructure development in the continent.

According to a recent study, intra-Africa trade is around 10 percent of exports, whereas other regions such as Asia are closer to the 70 percent mark. Also, African transport costs are said to be around 12.6 percent of the cost of the goods, more than double that of the world average.

Durban - The Water and Energy Summit currently underway in KwaZulu-Natal is bringing into sharp focus the country's water problems and possible solutions are being tabled on how to best deal with the situation.

2010 has not been a good year for water in South Africa, with drought posing a serious challenge in provinces, including the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. South Africa is already on the list of the 30 driest countries in the world. When poverty is added to the mix, the consequences become dire.

Acting Director General for the national Department of Water Affairs, Trevor Balzer, said water has to be at the centre of all development plans, especially South Africa's socio-economic goals.

He said government's current budget allocated to the Water Department is not sufficient to address the water provision backlog.

Balzer stressed the importance of municipalities effectively managing their water and energy systems, and appealed to ratepayers and civil organisations to not withhold fees from municipalities, even if they are aggrieved with service delivery.