ADDRESS BY THE MEC FOR ECONOMIC, ENVIRONMENT,
AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT, LEBOGANG
MAILE, ON THE OCCASION OF THE PUBLIC LAUNCH OF
THE TROPICAL MUSHROOMS FARM WORKERS EQUITY
SHARE SCHEME
21 November 2014
Programme Director
Executive Mayors here present
Members of Mayoral Committees, here present
Mr Peter Nyathi, the founder of Tropical Mushrooms (Pty) Ltd
Workers and worker representatives on this farm
Honoured Guests
Members of the Media
Ladies and Gentlemen:
We meet here today to witness the results of a successful partnership between the private sector, workers on this farm and government at various levels.
At the centre of this partnership is the empowerment of workers; many of whom have dedicated a significant part of their working lives to this farm.
We note that the Tropical Mushrooms (Pty) Ltd Employees Trust, that has brought us here today, is the first of its kind in Gauteng and is the first to be supported under our government’s Agri-BEE programme since 2012.
This Scheme has allowed workers on this farm to have a meaningful stake in its operations. It makes it possible for workers to benefit more
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directly in the success of the farm. It has also given them a sense of ownership. It has given them an asset that they can use to improve their lives and that of their community for current and future generations.
As a Department, we are satisfied that the Tropical Mushroom (Pty)
Ltd Employees Trust was not an exercise in malicious compliance with BEE requirements.
This is a model we will use as a guide in our programme to expand the implementation of employees share ownerships across our province.
Unlike some Black Economic Empowerment transactions, this scheme was not done to “tick the boxes”.
It was also not done for the purpose of complying with the bare minimums of BBBEE charters.
This, in our view, was a genuine endeavour to embrace the goal of true economic empowerment of those who were previously denied opportunities.
Today therefore is a moment of pride for all who worked towards the success of this Employee Empowerment Scheme. We take this opportunity to thank all of them for their hard work, commitment and dedication.
We know that this was not an easy process. It took many years of sometimes tough negotiations, planning and execution.
As we today witness the fruits of this hard work and as we draw lessons from what has been achieved on this farm, we are emboldened that we have paved the way for many such successful partnerships to be rolled out in our province.
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It is indeed our view that a constructive and transformative partnership between government, labour and business is the only way we can grow our economy and change the quality of life of our people for the better.
It is partnerships such as these that will go a long way in repairing relations and rebuilding trust between government, the private sector and labour in order to move our economy and in particular the agricultural sector forward.
This partnership contributes directly to our strategic goal as government to intervene decisively in the economy in order to create space for the emergence of black industrialists, in key sectors of the economy including in agriculture.
It also contributes to our goal of broadening the ownership of the means of production, to include those who were previously excluded from the mainstream of the economy.
Equally this partnership contributes significantly towards shaking the foundations of the economic status quo in our province and in our country.
In a small but no insignificant way this partnership gives practical meaning to the commitment to economic transformation articulated in that seminal document of our people; the Freedom Charter which declared that: the People Shall Share in the Country’s Wealth!.
It is transactions like these that have an effect of tilting the balance of economic forces in favour of those who were previously denied opportunities.
Indeed it is transactions like these that convenience us further that the path we have crafted for ourselves; the path of pursuing radical economic and social transformation, modernization and the reindustrialization of Gauteng is a correct one.
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As we move along this path, our ultimate goal is to de-racialize our economy, make it more inclusive while at the same time ensuring that it grows and creates jobs.
In the agricultural sector in particular, my Department will continue to work towards the goal of increasing the number of black people who own sustainable commercial agricultural enterprises.
This we will do as part of our overall commitment to the radical transformation of agri-business in our Province.
Equally, working with institutions such as the Gauteng Enterprise
Propeller and the Gauteng Growth and Development Agency, we will continue to identify and facilitate access to economic opportunities and provide enterprise development support to black and emerging farmers as well as farms owned by the youth, women and people living with disabilities.
We will do all of this in order to position agriculture as one of the key drives of economic growth, job creation and social inclusion.
Programme Director, despite our province having the smallest land mass of all the nine provinces in our country, it is our view that with the correct policy and programmatic interventions, Agriculture can play a major role in advancing our programme to transform, modernise and reindustrialise Gauteng.
This we say, amoung others, because more than 24% of the South
African population resides in Gauteng.
For our sector this means that Gauteng is one of the largest markets for agricultural products. It means agricultural enterprises operating in our province have easy access to a significant consumer market for their products.
Currently agriculture represents 1% of total employment in Gauteng.
Through the implementation of our game-changers which include;
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support for Aquaculture and Hydrophinics initiatives we will substantially increase the contribution of our sector to the economy broadly and to job creation.
We also note that the direct contribution of agriculture to the GDP of
Gauteng currently stands at 0.4%.
However when taking into account the forward and backward linkages in areas such as food production, textiles, beverages, tobacco wood and wood products, agriculture contributes about 36% to
Gauteng’s economy.
We are equally encouraged by studies that indicate that an initial investment in agriculture has a substantial multiplier effect on many other sectors of the economy as well as on job creation.
This should strengthen our resolve to continue investing in the development and expansion of sustainable agricultural enterprises in our province.
As we seek to increase the contribution of agriculture in our economy, we must increase our focus on the value adding of primary products.
It is for this reason that we have identified agro-processing as one of the game changers that we will pursue in the coming years.
Our goal is to position Gauteng as the Agro-processing hub of our country and the SADC region.
Our proximity to a major port of entry and exit; the O.R. Tambo
International Airport as well as our advanced infrastructure network allow us to benefit from being an exporter of agricultural products, especially processed products.
We are encouraged by the value addition that currently is taking place at this farm.
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We urge you to do more of this as part of fast-tracking access into the agriculture vale chain.
For our part as government we will continue to increase focus on interventions aimed at promoting inclusion in the entire agricultural value chain.
Specifically, we will continue to create opportunities for emerging farmers to benefit from opportunities in areas such as storage facilities, distribution and seed production.
I wish the Tropical Mushrooms (Pty) Ltd as well as the Employees
Trust all the best for the future.
Ke a leboga!
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