12 September 2023
By: Michelle van der Spuy
Of the 61 agri-hubs the government has established since 2019, at a cost of R1 billion, only 23 are fully functional.
This was revealed in a response by Thoko Didiza, Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, to a parliamentary question from the DA.
Noko Masipa, the DA agriculture spokesperson, says this means 63% of these hubs, which were supposed to boost the agricultural value chain nationwide, have failed.
“When they were introduced, the agri-hubs were marketed as agricultural processing centres that would provide operational support to farmers and market access for their products,” he says.
“The fact that only 37% of them are fully functional is an indication of the department’s ongoing failure to build capacity in the agricultural sector for job creation and the overall sustainability of the sector.”
Didiza’s revelation follows the department’s disclosure that the government has spent about R12 billion on land reform since 2006, with 75% of projects failing.
“South Africa’s agricultural graduates have a bleak outlook of unemployment, while the department has squandered R9 billion on land reform and R1 -billion on agri-park programmes,” says Masipa.
He says the DA will use all possible parliamentary means to insist that Didiza be held accountable for the failures and wasted expenditure.
“Several of the department’s programmes have yielded no return on investment for South African taxpayers, despite the clear need for support in the agricultural sector, which has the potential to create many job opportunities.”
Masipa says it is particularly concerning that the 21 agri-hubs in KwaZulu-Natal are not functioning, while a third of the total budget for agri-hubs is being spent there.
“Therefore, Didiza must provide full reports on all agri-hub projects in KZN to the portfolio committee and indicate what corrective measures will be applied.”
He says there have been allegations of deficiencies in the department’s internal controls. “The department’s financial performance is a continuing problem, as noted by the auditor-general during her annual audit findings submissions for government departments.
“This latest revelation about the significant spending on dysfunctional agri-hubs serves as clear evidence that this problem is far from being solved.”
