12 October 2004

Dear Mr Boltina

Herewith please find the submission from SPP (supported by Case Studies) for the consideration of the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture and Land Affairs (National Assembly). We furthermore request the Committee to provide a slot for SPP at the hearings in order to present our case on the Pace of Land Reform.

The Director of SPP (Ms Herschelle Milford) or in her absence a staff member as assigned by her, will be doing the presentation.

SPP will be addressing the Pace of Land Reform in the Northern and Western Cape with specific reference to land redistribution and land tenure reform.

About SPP:

The Surplus People Project (SPP) began in 1985 as an organisation to support the struggles of groups and communities faced with land dispossession. Located in Cape Town, it mainly focused on urban removals. Over the years since then, it has increasingly worked with rural groups of men and women. Since 1994, its focus has shifted to also include assisting people to acquire land and is currently an organisation that implements land and agrarian reform through working with groups of men and women to acquire secure rights to land and to introduce sustainable mechanisms to use, manage and develop the land. At the same time, SPP works to ensure that the policies of government, at all levels, and other land holding and development supporting institutions favour poor people in their development. The organisation has expanded over the years and now has four offices located in Cape Town, Springbok (Namaqualand), Calvinia (Karoo), and Citrusdal (West Coast).

We look forward to your response.

Herschelle Milford (ms)

Managing director

SURPLUS PEOPLE PROJECT
45 Collingwood Road, Observatory · P.O. Box 468 Athlone 7760, South Africa