Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
National Heritage Resource Act of 1999
The National Heritage Resources Act of 1999 gives communities an opportunity to take part
in the management of their cultural and religious resources. According to the Act, traditional
resources involve all belief systems such as, graves and burial grounds, cultural groups for
collective, cultural and spiritual grounds as well as landscapes and national aspects of cultural
meaning (Zenani and Mistri, 2003). The main aim of the National Heritage Resource Act,
according to Breedlove (2002), was to introduce a mixed and cooperative system for the
management of the national heritage resources and to encourage communities to conserve
their resource for future generations. This indicates that traditional resources in South Africa
are of cultural importance and as a result, should be taken care of so they remain available for
the next generation. Some of these traditional resources are found on rangelands.
Communal Land Right Act of 2004
The Communal Land Rights Act (ClaRA) was enacted in 2004 with the major aim of
supporting communities living in communal areas by promoting security of tenure for South
Africans living on rural lands, which are commonly known as traditional communities. In
these communities, interests in communal land are held by means of formal and informal
land rights generally known as 'permission to occupy, which are managed and administered
by traditional authorities. This indicates that ClaRA's interest was on how rural poor in
South Africa hold land right and how those rights are administered (Kariuki, 2004).
The intention of government was to secure property rights to facilitate development and
to broaden equality into rural areas under traditional administration. Under this Act,
traditional communities were to select their traditional councils as land organization
committees. However, the role, which was to be played by these land administration
committees regarding individual or household rights to own individual portions, remained
unclear with this Act.
10.4.3 Farmers unions and cooperatives in South Africa
Farmers' unions as well as the agricultural cooperatives in South Africa are organised and
controlled by farmers to promote their interests. The objectives of the farmers' unions
and cooperatives are to support organised agriculture in marketing and processing of
agricultural products by the rural communities, which will in turn benefit the entire
farming community (Philip, 2003). Generally, farmers join a local farmers' organization,
which is regarded as the starting point for organised agriculture and is linked to a provincial
agricultural union, which in turn is affiliated to Agri South Africa. Agri South Africa acts as
a representative for all farmers at national level in order to support farmers both financially
and socially. Farmers have various associations, to mention but few, grain producers,
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