1 March 2024
By: Dr Ivan Meyer, Western Cape Agriculture MEC
Cadre deployment is a cancer in South Africa. The ANC has mercilessly applied this system across all sectors of society – needless to say, with disastrous consequences. The country still suffers due to cadre deployment.
Agriculture in South Africa has not been spared the consequences of cadre deployment. In fact, the sector has been heavily impacted. To put it differently, cadre deployment is central to many of agriculture’s problems.
Energy
The agricultural sector continues to be severely affected by the shortage of sustainable energy. Farmers and other stakeholders in the value chain spend millions of rand on alternative and green energy to stay in business. This is a significant strain, especially for irrigation farmers.
Farming requires energy security. The agriculture sector’s energy problems began with cadre deployment at Eskom. The deployment of cadres at Eskom is fully documented in the Zondo commission’s report and André de Ruyter’s book, Truth to Power: My Three Years Inside Eskom.
Ports
A second aspect closely affecting agriculture is the state of South Africa’s ports. The country is a net exporter of agricultural products, and despite many promises, the condition of our ports remains a serious cause for concern.
Like Eskom, cadres have been deployed at Transnet and its subsidiaries. The interest on Transnet’s state debt amounts to R1 billion a day. Transnet has deployed cadres, and as a result the agricultural sector suffers. Farmers’ products rot at the ports, causing them to lose millions of rand.
My heart bleeds for them because their hard work is nullified by cadre deployment at state institutions like Transnet. The agricultural sector pays a high price due to cadre deployment at Transnet and the ports.
During my visit to the Maputo port in Mozambique, I saw first-hand how it operates smoothly without any problems, as personnel are appointed based on merit and cadres are not deployed there.
Biosecurity
The third area where agriculture suffers greatly is South Africa’s biosecurity. The country has experienced several crises in recent years related to blue tongue disease, African swine fever, avian influenza, foot-and-mouth disease and other related livestock diseases.
The national report on livestock diseases found that the country’s institutional framework for managing biosecurity has completely collapsed. The main reason for this is that the national Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development is completely incompetent. Incompetence is the result of cadre deployment.
South Africa’s biosecurity poses a significant risk to agriculture and agricultural exports. The ship Al-Kuwait, which recently transported 19 000 cattle from Brazil to Iraq, jeopardised our biosecurity when it docked at the Cape Town port to load livestock feed. The national department and the port authority granted permission for the ship to dock.
In my opinion, this was not a wise decision. One can only wonder who influenced the cadres’ decisions.
Rural security
A fourth area directly affecting farming communities is rural security. Despite the president’s denial in New York of farm murders, farmers and their workers are exposed to rural crime, including murder and serious, brutal assaults, on a daily basis.
The police, with minister Bheki Cele at the helm, do not ensure that crime, and specifically rural crime, is seen as a priority by the government. Beyond the Western Cape, there is very little that other provinces do to protect farmers and workers. Farmers regularly report high levels of crime on their farms.
But most farmers no longer complain. They now do their own thing and secure their own farms and rural communities. Farmers belong to farm watches and even have extensive security networks. Civil society, such as Agri SA, AfriForum, municipalities and other organisations, is now working to protect our rural communities.
This is an example of active citizenship. Farmers have created their own security networks because the police service is riddled with cadre deployment and total incompetence. There are exceptions and many good police officers, but they are in the minority.
Water
A fifth area where agriculture is severely affected is the management of South Africa’s water resources. You cannot farm without water security. According to the auditor-general’s audit reports, the Department of Water and Sanitation is incompetent to manage the country’s water resources.
Recently, the department proposed racial quotas for water allocations. The Western Cape Department of Agriculture and agricultural organisations threatened legal action if these controversial water regulations are approved.
The Department of Water and Sanitation has undergone turmoil under former ministers Gugile Nkwinti, Nomvula Mokonyane and Lindiwe Sisulu. All three were bad for agriculture and their deployment in this crucial portfolio will be felt for decades to come.
If you have a weak link (such as cadres) in the country’s water resource management system, it destroys the potential of agriculture.
Land Reform
A sixth area where cadre deployment hits agriculture hard is land reform. South Africa’s history requires successful land reform.
In response to a question about the success rate of land reform, minister Thoko Didiza replied that 90% of the state’s land reform projects had failed. This is not surprising because land has even been allocated to cadres (who do not deserve it).
Land reform in South Africa (outside the Western Cape) is a total failure due to cadre deployment. Billions of rand have thus been wasted. It is taxpayers’ money. As in Zimbabwe, land reform in South Africa has favoured cadres at the expense of those who are truly deserving.
The Land Bank
A seventh area where the agricultural sector is heavily affected by cadre deployment is the Land Bank. The Land Bank was established to assist farmers with financing. In recent years, we have seen a downward trend. Less money has been made available to farmers and there have been liquidity problems.
Cadre deployment has also destroyed a once proud agricultural institution. Farmers are now on their own. The state is bankrupt and the Land Bank’s financial problems, despite many promises, are not improving.
Our farmers have to compete with the outside world in terms of agricultural exports, without any state aid or subsidies. Their foreign competitors receive subsidies from the state. This is very unfair to South African farmers.
Nevertheless, the country’s farmers are very competitive. Our products are of high quality, and despite the many problems, agriculture in South Africa is very resilient. A salute to our farmers and agricultural workers.
As long as cadre deployment is the ruling party’s official policy, we should not harbour any prospects that things will improve at the Land Bank.
Unhelpful helper
The last area where cadre deployment harms agriculture is at the very department that should help agriculture, namely the national Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development.
The department is a stumbling block for many farmers and the words “effective governance” are not in its vocabulary. Incompetence and ineptitude have been written all over the department.
Didiza is a very good minister but her department cannot pull its weight. She inherited a bunch of ANC cadres and her department remains on the runway. The plane simply cannot take off because cadres sit in the pilot’s seat.
However, the government is determined to continue with cadre deployment and thereby destroy agriculture. The president recently confirmed at the ANC’s launch of its election manifesto that cadre deployment is here to stay.
The agricultural sector must stand together to protect itself. We must stand together against cadre deployment and see the bigger picture. This year’s election is a watershed moment in South Africa’s history and farmers must now stand together and rid themselves of the ANC. Farmers must also try to convince their workers to vote the ANC out. #ForTheLoveOfAgriculture
It’s now or never. In agriculture, there is never an option. So, there is only one choice: Vote the ANC out in 2024.