At the Land, Life and Society conference in Bellville-South (Oct 7, 2025), Minister Mzwanele Nyhontso acknowledged that South Africa’s land reform program since 1994—focused on restitution, redistribution, and tenure reform—has transferred millions of hectares and secured rights for families and communities but falls short. Inequality persists, with land concentrated among few owners, marginalizing women, youth, and farmworkers, while rural poverty and food insecurity remain high.
Successes, like Richtersveld mineral rights restitution, are overshadowed by failures in creating sustainable livelihoods through redistribution.
Nyhontso stressed land reform’s centrality to justice, democracy, and development, urging further efforts to empower marginalized groups.
AAMP Criticism: A "Plan Without Farmers": Concurrently, the Agriculture and Agro-processing Master Plan (AAMP), signed in 2022, faces backlash from farmers, notably from Saai, TLU-SA, and WRSA, who call it a “master plan without farmers.” Saai’s Theo de Jager and TLU-SA’s Bennie van Zyl argue it prioritizes transformation over profitability and sustainability, ignoring nine formal objections raised in three meetings with the Department of Agriculture.
They criticize the exclusion of key stakeholders (including wildlife ranching and employers’ groups) from the AAMP’s October 7, 2025, oversight meeting in Stellenbosch, alleging ANC-driven ideology—tied to policies like expropriation without compensation—undermines economic realities. Farmers warn that transformation-first approaches risk outcomes like Eskom’s load-shedding or SABC/Denel collapses, demanding inclusion and practical solutions to ensure food security and sector viability.
John Steenhuisen, the Democratic Alliance (DA) leader and current Minister of Agriculture since July 2024, has positioned himself as a champion of the AAMP—the 2022 social compact aimed at driving inclusive growth, job creation, and transformation in South Africa's R1.2 trillion agriculture and agro-processing sector. Adopted under the previous ANC administration, the AAMP outlines strategies for 10 priority value chains (e.g., poultry, grains, red meat) through blended finance, infrastructure upgrades, and market access. Steenhuisen, in his maiden Budget Vote speech (July 16, 2024), pledged to accelerate its implementation without "reinventing the wheel," emphasizing partnerships, biosecurity, and smallholder support to boost exports and rural employment.
He reiterated this at the Biosecurity Summit (June 2025) and AVI Africa Conference, framing the AAMP as a "framework for inclusive growth" aligned with global goals like CAADP.
Despite Steenhuisen's enthusiasm, the AAMP faces backlash from groups like Saai, TLU-SA, and WRSA, who label it a "plan without farmers" for prioritizing transformation (mentioned 92 times) over profitability and sustainability. They claim nine formal objections (from 2022 meetings) were ignored, and critics like Saai's Theo de Jager were excluded from the October 7, 2025, Stellenbosch oversight meeting.
TLU-SA's Bennie van Zyl argues ANC ideology (e.g., expropriation without compensation) trumps economics, risking Eskom-like failures. Steenhuisen counters that the plan has "broad sectoral support" from signatories (including AgriSA, unions) and invites dialogue, but tensions persist—e.g., wildlife ranching input unaddressed.
Steenhuisen's vision ties AAMP to food sovereignty, regenerative practices, and G20/FAO collaborations, with R10 billion for smallholders in the 2025 SONA. Early wins include a 1.5% sector growth (2024) and poultry master plan implementation, but farmer protests (e.g., July 2024 calls for revisions) highlight divides.
As GNU co-chair, he balances DA pragmatism with ANC transformation demands, aiming for 5-6% annual growth by 2030. Critics urge more farmer inclusion; supporters see it as a path to equitable prosperity.
Key AAMP elements criticized:
- Racial Targets: 20% transformation across sectors (ambiguous: proportional or percentage points increase for black farmers).
- Funding: "Blended finance" via AgriBEE Fund, levies, and trusts; loans (up to 49% equity) for military veterans, unemployed, and workers only, excluding educated farmers and primary equipment needs—benefiting large corps while taxing existing enterprises.
- Land Use: 1 million hectares of "underutilized" communal/reform land into production by 2030; commodity corridors (e.g., citrus in Eastern Cape) prioritizing black farmers and high-potential crops.
- Implementation: Public-private partnerships aligning state, unions, and BEE cartels, likened by critics to corporatist models in fascist Italy/Nazi Germany.
You need real productive competent farmers for a Agriculture and Farming Masterplan- not Politicians, Economists and Corporate alone. Masterplan without farmers is doomed.
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