Unfolding legal and policy developments affecting the farming sector
The chief function of Agri SA’s Legal and Policy Unit is to create an enabling and conducive legal and policy environment that, in line with the organisation’s overarching strategy, promotes certainty, continued viability, growth, inclusiveness, and unity within the South African agricultural sector. Agri SA’s core day-to-day business, therefore, includes responding to and initiating legislative and policy developments that, on the one hand, either avert potentially negative impacts on the agricultural sector or anticipate and advance opportunities and unlock South Africa’s agricultural potential, on the other.
To do so, Agri SA’s Legal and Policy Unit comprises five Centres of Excellence:
- Economics
- Natural Resources
- Land
- Labour
- Rural Safety
In addition to the above, Agri SA prioritises rural safety as a food security and national security matter (by means of its Agri Securitas Trust). Through the Agri SA Disaster Foundation, we assist with agricultural risks and disasters (including drought, flooding, pests and diseases, and civil unrest) by addressing appropriate disaster response strategies and interventions.
Specialist Agri SA staff, a committee of elected farmer leaders and/or co-opted specialist officials provide management oversight for each Centre of Excellence.
Current and future farmer leaders who serve as Centre of Excellence committee members are identified through Agri SA’s provincial, commodity and corporate member structures, thus ensuring that when Agri SA engages in policy and legislative matters with government and other stakeholders, it does so with an authentic and authoritative farmer mandate.
Centres of Excellence assist Agri SA’s provincial, commodity and corporate chambers on important issues affecting their affiliated members. They provide vital inputs for the formulation and execution of the overall strategic objectives of Agri SA’s Board of Directors.
This well-proven structure effectively allows Agri SA to:
- alert members to new legal and policy developments
- consult, and formulate authentic farmer-centric mandated responses to such developments
- track and follow through on such legal and policy developments
- assist in continuously reviewing and improving legislation and policy.
In performing its functions, Agri SA relies on various resources and tools, including:
- highly professional staff
- extensive and reliable government and private stakeholder networks
- a formidable media presence
- external legal and specialist advisors (where needed)
At times ensuring proper legislative and policy development outcomes may require court action. In this regard, an external Legal Advisory Committee that assists in considering requests for legal assistance under stipulated requirements (including the need for establishing a legal precedent on matters of national importance to the agricultural sector) serve Agri SA’s Legal and Policy Unit.
The past 12 months have been particularly busy for Agri SA’s Legal and Policy Unit. As of the time of writing (February 2023), Agri SA was actively involved in the following matters:
Cross-cutting
- The Agriculture and Agro-Processing Masterplan
Economics
- Energy (including the ongoing load-shedding crisis)
- Transport (crumbling road and port infrastructure)
- Taxation Laws Amendment Bill
Natural Resources
- Draft Revision of the National Pricing Strategy for Water Use Charges
- Draft Water and Sanitation Policy on Privately Owned Land
- Climate Change Bill
- National Water Resources Strategy-3
- Competing land uses, including mining
- Unconventional Gas Regulations (Fracking)
- Establishment of an Independent Water Regulator
- Transformation Charter/Guideline on Irrigation Boards and Water Users Associations
- Creation of Catchment Management Agencies (including the Vaal-Orange Catchment Management Agency)
- Draft National Water Resource Infrastructure Agency SOC Ltd, Bill
- Intention to extend the service area of Overberg Water to cover the entire Western Cape Province
- Verification and Validation (including registration) of existing lawful water use
- Annual Raw-Water Tariff negotiations (agricultural sector)
Risk and Disaster Unit
- National Veld and Forest Fire Amendment Bill
- Amendment to National Disaster Management Framework
Land
- Expropriation Bill
- Land Court Bill
- Deeds Registries Amendment Bill
- Preservation and Development of Agricultural Land Bill
Labour
- National Minimum Wage
- Employment Equity
- Corporate Visas
- Migrant Labour Policy
- Working and living conditions of farmworkers and those in farming communities
Rural Safety
- National Rural Safety Strategy
- Tax deductibility of security-related expenditure on farms
Litigation
- Transferability and trade in water use entitlements (Constitutional Court)
- Sale and supply of electricity by Eskom to farmers (Pretoria High Court)
- The South African agricultural context is unique and often complex. While we regularly align our legal and policy positions on cross-cutting issues with other business, academic, labour and other organisations, the sector needs a specific own voice to speak on its behalf concerning issues of particular importance to farmers.
It is therefore imperative that as a sector, we continuously engage with one another and strive for consensus, if not unity, on issues of mutual concern.
In 2023 Agri SA will continue to shape and improve the agricultural legal and policy landscape for the betterment of all South Africa’s farmers.
By Janse Rabie