
Thoko didiza
Didiza announces support for subsistence farmers
Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Thoko Didiza on Monday announced interventions to support subsistence farmers through the...
Agriculture Minister Thoko Didiza said that more than 75 people - mainly women whose production was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic - would benefit from the programme.
The demonstrators handed over a memorandum. They also wanted to meet with Land Reform and Rural Development Thoko Didiza.
Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Thoko Didiza, said in the next two weeks, government would issue advertisement notices of 896 farms totalling 700,000 hectares of under-utilised or vacant state land.
The minister held a virtual dialogue on Monday with women in the sector who raised many issues centering around the lack of land.
Government has set aside R1.2 billion for farmers struggling amid the coronavirus lockdown.
Speaking at a briefing in Pretoria on Monday, the Agriculture Minister announced interventions in the agricultural sector to ensure continued food production during the COVID-19 outbreak and beyond.
Following the coronavirus lockdown in South Africa, Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Thoko Didiza announced plans to assist the agriculture industry to ensure continued food production.
From Friday morning, the country will go into a 21-day lockdown as government tries to curb the spread of COVD-19, which has killed almost 20,000 people around the world.
In December, Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Thoko Didiza submitted a plan on the redevelopment of District Six to the Land Claims Court for residents who lodged claims between 1994 and 1998.
Cabinet has rejected a recommendation to form a land reform fund to assist with the expropriation of land without expropriation.
In recent weeks, land and sugar cane fields belonging to the Mathulini Communal Property Association were set alight resulting in damage estimated at around R3 million.
The minister met with her Gauteng, North West Mpumalanga counterparts on Saturday to address the status of the situation.
Last week, the Land Claims Court found former Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane didn’t comply with a court order to come up with a proper plan for restitution, shifting that responsibility to her successor.
Legal representative for the claimants Laura Macfarlane said the ruling was a major victory.
Minister Thoko Didiza and members of the panel briefed the media in Pretoria, stating that the report would inform government policy on land reform.
Minister Thoko Didiza on Tuesday tabled the department’s budget and one for the Department of Fisheries and Forestry, which is also under her leadership.
An arson attack on a farm owned by the Mathulini Communal Property Association (CPA) has resulted in damage of over R1 million.
On Friday, spokesperson for the Mathulini Communal Property Association (CPA), Sandile Dlamini a farm belonging to the association was burnt to the ground.