Full contribution
HON. NDUNA: Thank you Madam Speaker. Good afternoon Madam Speaker.
THE DEPUTY SPEAKER: Good afternoon Hon. Member.
HON. NDUNA: Madam Speaker, first of all, I want to thank you for giving me this opportunity and also want to recognise that we have got a new carpet in the National Assembly and this goes a long way in terms of harmonizing our operations and cleanliness as cleanliness is next to godliness Madam Speaker.
I want to thank the Minister for tabling this Bill and I say in its totality and entirety if this Bill is enacted, we should see an efficient and flawless system in the acquisition of land, in the operation of land and in all the issues that have to do with land. I am aware and cognisant of the fact that some of the Acts that are being repealed and amended are way before the liberation struggle of this country was waged. Some of them in 1963, the other one in 1969. I believe in all honesty that repealing and amending some of these Acts will only do good in terms of empowering our formerly marginalised black majority which this country and the liberators of this country went to war for in order to completely emancipate them and empower them totally.
Madam Speaker, I want to touch on first and foremost, the issue of downsizing of farms because the issue that is being tabled here and being touched on hinges in particular towards empowerment of all the formally marginalised black majority; who are now taking place of the less than 4 000 former farm owners who were predominantly White by increasing the hectarage and making sure that those owners who are now predominantly Black also own large tracts of land. We have just duplicated what obtained in the era of neo-colonialist and former colonial powers. So the issue of downsizing of land from however much to 400 hectares is a noble idea Madam Speaker. In particular, that is being led by the Land Commission.
Madam Speaker, I would want to say as they conduct their operations and as has been alluded to by the Chairperson of the Committee on Agriculture; there should be eradication and removal and not transference of Land Officers in the districts and in the provinces. These people should be relieved off their duties as we have seen that they have taken advantage of the value of land and the land in their ambits and under their jurisdiction in order to enrich themselves and to indulge in corrupt collusion infested actions and nepotism. They have taken corruption to a higher level utilising our God given resources which is land. So, because of that, these Land Officers should be relieved of their duties and may be go to other sectors that are not engaged in land redistribution and land distribution.
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