The Eastern Cape region of TLU SA held an information conference on Monday morning, 9 June, during which core issues directly affecting the agricultural sector were discussed. The focus fell on property rights, rural security, sustainable agricultural financing and the necessity of principled policy to ensure genuine economic progress.
TLU SA emphasised during the conference that property rights are the backbone of a functioning economy. Without clear and protected rights to ownership, no long-term investment or sustainable development can take place. The erosion of this fundamental principle has consequences that extend far beyond just land issues—it also touches on the broader concept of freedom and self-determination. Reference was also made to the way in which the right to language, culture, copyright and intellectual property are coming under increasing pressure.
Rural security, and specifically the continuing increase in stock theft, was highlighted as one of the greatest challenges for producers in the Eastern Cape. Farmers are confronted daily with the reality of organised crime, often without adequate support from the state or law enforcement. There was also discussion of how communities, security structures and the private sector can better collaborate to act proactively where the state fails.
Another important point of discussion was agricultural financing, which is becoming increasingly problematic in an environment where production risks are becoming higher and access to loans and cash flow sources is decreasing. Particularly in cases where factors beyond farmers’ control such as foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks, or other production risks occur, there is an urgent need for more flexibility from financial institutions. A plea was expressed that institutions which finance the agricultural sector take the realities of farmers’ circumstances into account, and follow a more human, realistic approach to help maintain sustainable farming.
TLU SA emphasises that the farmers who are currently still actively farming on their farms are amongst the most valuable role players in the country’s economic stability. They contribute to food production, job creation, exports and local economic growth. Everything possible must be done to keep these producers in production, rather than placing them under further pressure through unworkable policies or a lack of support.
The conference concluded with a call for honest self-examination and responsibility. The question was posed: “Who still trusts the ANC?” With reference to the past three decades’ policy directions, the economic decline, an increase in poverty and unemployment, and a small political elite that enriches itself at the expense of the broader public, the consensus is clear: The majority of representatives have no confidence in the ANC’s ability to lead the country out of its crisis.
Questions were asked about why some still give tacit support to policy directions such as Black Economic Empowerment and other socialistically-schooled structures, which have repeatedly proven not to lead to equitable development, but rather to further polarisation and economic stagnation.
TLU SA calls on all rational, right-thinking South Africans to choose principles above ideology. Now is the time to take a stand against policy directions that destroy, and to build anew an economy that truly works for everyone, based on justice, merit, property protection and genuine job creation.
