CLimate Statement Dec 2024CLIMATE, AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SYSTEMS –

Seeking a just transition for smallholder farms in South Africa

• Yet another tropical cyclone has hit Southern Africa in recent weeks. Cyclone Chido has caused major destruction in the Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, parts of the Comoros islands and in northern Mozambique and southern Cyclone Chido followed cyclones Kenethe (2018) and Iday (2019), compounding the damages already inflicted on impoverished nations and vulnerable peoples in our neighbouring countries such as Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe: destruction of infrastructure, housing, health and education facilities, forcing displacements, killing thousands of people and livestock and other species, disrupting agriculture and food production, destroying crops and livelihoods, and national economies.

 

• While South Africa has not experienced the full impacts of these cyclones, the country has been experiencing increased frequency and intensity of other climate change related events: drought, heatwaves and flooding associated with climate change in different parts of the Although less severe, SA has experienced similar impacts to those witnessed in our neighbouring SADC countries.

 

• As an organisation working with a South African collective of affiliated rural land and subsistence and smallholder farmers’ movements and associations, concerning themselves with unrealised agrarian reform and with food production, “global warming, climate change, agriculture, food supply chains and food systems’’ are critical areas of engagement, while situating ourselves in our broader human, socio-economic, political and geographical contexts.

 

 

• Smallholder farmers are part of the multiple interest groups participating in food systems supply chains, with countries and actors contributing to and experiencing climate change differently, with Africa increasingly bearing the burden of climate change impacts while having contributed the least to the problem. Marginalised smallholder farmers, are much more vulnerable to the impacts of climate events and losses of production, productive assets and uncertainty of livelihoods and any investments diminish possibilities to escape Thus, the need to engage in the proposal of alternatives and mobilise for a just transition.

Current manifestations and predicted changes for our SADC region as a result of global warming: Overall forecasts by scientists, depending on the future levels of temperature rises (contained to 1.5º or rises up to 3ºC) will have dramatic socio-economic impacts on our societies: increased and longer periods of droughts; greater frequency of extreme rainfall events; large biodiversity losses, changes in freshwater and marine ecosystems and in natural vegetation landscapes; shifting and shortening agricultural seasons (declines in yields have already been registered in maize and wheat), the greatest impacts likely to be seen amongst smallholder and subsistence farmers (most relying on rainfed production; conflicting demands for limited water for

 

agriculture, energy, mining and social needs, threatening food production, livelihoods, health, industrial/commercial output and jobs; increase in the range and transmission of infectious diseases (e.g. cholera) and vector diseases (e.g. malaria and dengue fever) and human deaths; new tick species and livestock diseases; increasing and shifting migration patterns within South Africa but also between SADC countries (and beyond) leading to increases in conflicts and in informal settlements, higher levels of hunger and malnutrition, declines in education access and achievements, and rising conflict with desperate people seeking food, livelihoods and means of survival.

• How is our government in South Africa proposing to deal with ongoing impacts of climate change on food production? Climate change is already increasing and deepening socio- economic inequalities particularly between the Global North and the Global South and between social classes. Likewise in South Africa, but here we also have the additional racial colonial and apartheid legacies that remain entrenched despite the formal end of apartheid in 1994. Lessons from the last 30 years suggest that class, racial and all other inequalities, including gender, are likely to continue rising as we face new challenges brought by climate change destructive Our government (and others in the region) continues to implement neo-liberal policies, privatising our social services, imposing austerity budgets. Almost all small holder farmers do not have access to insurance. When the climate calamities and disasters hit them they stand to lose everything they have worked hard for.

 

 

No agrarian reform has been undertaken: no significant land reform and little support for those who did receive land. Agriculture continues to be dominated by white owned large industrial farms, propagating the myth that it is ensuring food security not only for South Africa but also for the region, while the aim is to export, and food access is mediated through financial markets while hunger and malnutrition levels keep increasing.

To address climate change linked to agriculture, and allegedly to also address poverty, unemployment and inequality, in 2018 the SA government published the Draft Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) Strategic Framework (CSADSF) for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, but fails to clearly define or explain what key elements of CSA are. Thus, we have to look elsewhere,

Agriculture and food systems negotiations at COP 28 and CP 29: Having identified the dominant industrial agriculture model as emitting up to a third of global greenhouse gases (GHGs) the world was urged to change this production model. Formal incorporation of agriculture in the UN climate negotiations only happened since COP 28 (2023, Dubai, UAE) exposing the conflicting interests and contradictions in the global agriculture trade and production models. “Climate Smart- Agriculture” (CSA) emerged as a favoured form of “sustainable agriculture” production. Central to CSA production are the usage of corporate driven and factory produced chemical (and sometimes even organic) fertilisers as well as the use of hybrid and GM seeds. We, and millions of others continue to be critical and reject these CSA solutions as false. They do not address the roots of the problems, do not radically reduce emissions and just advance the interests of corporate agri-business. Although not legally binding, adoption of CSA was signed by 130 countries. A Global Alliance for Climate Smart Agriculture (GACSA) has been launched with the backing of some of the (failed) AGRA (Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa) funders. GACSA has over 200 members, which include some governments, businesses, civil society organisations such as NGOs, social and farmers’ movements, etc.

 

Linking agriculture and climate negotiations at COP: We know that climate negotiations nearly collapsed at COP 29 after a walkout by representatives of “Least Developed Countries” and Small Island States over failing negotiations on new finance targets. It had previously been agreed

 

that rich countries (responsible for 80% of emissions) would pay $1.3 trillion per year by 2035 to countries mostly experiencing climate events but that have not contributed to carbon emissions. However rich countries were only committing to pay $250 billion per year. Eventually, 33 hours later, a still controversial compromised agreement was reached: rich countries will pay “developing countries” $300 billion a year (for adaptation, including for “making farming more sustainable” and for mitigation), with a target of reaching $1.3 trillion per year by 2035. This new agreement is still far short of what vulnerable countries need – insufficient to prepare for climate disasters, rebuild after emergencies (loss and damage fund) and pay for reparations. The $300 billion will come from “all public and private sources” in rich countries with the involvement of international mega-banks, like the World Bank and private investors.

 

Grants or loans? Since 2016, around 70% of public climate finance has been delivered in the form of loans. Rich countries say that only private investment will be able to raise the trillions of $ needed – as climate-adaptation projects in the poorest countries do not generate profits to attract private investors, compared with mitigation projects like clean energy. On the other hand, “developing countries” argue that much of the finance needed should be from public grants from rich countries, otherwise they get burdened with increasing debt that prevents socio-economic delivery and meeting basic needs: in Sub-Sharan Africa 7 out the 38 countries are already in debt distress and 18 are at high risk, forcing countries to choose between life and debt repayment. Private lenders charge poor countries high interest rates (6- 10%), while they lend to governments in rich countries (e.g. UK and USA) at low (0-1%) interest rates.

 

The politics of carbon: South Africa (and Global South countries) remain trapped in colonial patterns of exporting unprocessed food and non-food products destined to the Global North. Even smallholder farmers are being integrated into these global food system chains through contract farming. Industrial agriculture commodity production in the Global South decreases GHG agriculture emissions in the Global North while it increases GHG emissions in the Global South. Meanwhile the Global North continues exceeding their GHG emission limitation targets, as it pursues moving to more renewable energy and new technologies, while maintaining their levels of overconsumption.

Thus, carbon markets emerged as the main tool in global efforts to address climate change since the Kyoko Protocol (COP3). Trading in carbon credits simply constitute an attempt to create another commodity and new goods to trade in capitalist markets, to expand their reach and reproduce and exacerbate processes of inequality within and between countries. Linked to this are an array of ever increasing schemes and allied terminologies that few can understand (“nature-based solutions”; debt- for-nature swaps; carbon farming, carbon sequestration; carbon offsetting; net-zero-emissions; etc etc). Carbon trading relies on natural resources from the Global South and continuing the legacy of colonial resource dispossession and violence against the black peoples of the Global South in new waves of land and resource grabbing and colonisation.

 

Growing concerns over corporate influence and calls for a reform of the COP processes: COP 28 was the first COP meeting where delegates were reportedly required to declare their affiliations. At negotiations on climate at COP 29 reports were that 1,773 fossil fuel lobbyists and least 480 lobbyists working on carbon capture and storage participated. Some of the world’s largest agribusinesses were also present: giant agro-chemicals and seed (Bayer (Monsanto), Dow Inc, DuPont Pioneer, Syngenta, Limograin) as well as giant food companies (Cargil, Nestle, Unilever, General Mills, PepsiCo, Kellog Co.) and animal pharmaceuticals (Elanco, merck animal health, zoetsis). And so was JBS (a meat supplier linked to deforestation in the Amazon). These fossil fuel and agribusiness lobbyist seemingly got in as part of trade associations and as country representatives, which grants them “privileged access”.

 

Social movements and other civil society have expressed concerns over the increasing numbers, overrepresentation and influence of corporate interests at COP climate negotiations. This included an open letter from a group of climate leaders including former UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon, former President of Ireland Mary Robinson, and former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres, who stated that a just transition cannot be achieved “without fair representation of those most affected.”

 

Facing global warming and climate change – What do we call for? We think that the COP negotiations have once again failed us, the peoples of the Global South.

• We remain critical and reject CSA as a solution to our food production. CSA and carbon trading do not radically reduce emissions and just advance the interests of corporate agri-business, while destroying our ecosystems, grabbing forests, land and other resources from the Global South.

 

• We call for implementation and support for agroecology (AE) and defend food sovereignty, as keys towards addressing climate change and a Just Transition in Food Systems. AE offers us a move away from industrial food systems and can contribute to local food security. We call for implementation of UNDROP (UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and People Working in Rural Areas) Saving, multiplying and sharing seeds from our farmer managed seed systems, adapted to our local environments are the basis of our life-force.

 

• Multi-sectoral support from the South African government for smallholder producers. The Department of Agriculture, the Department of Land Reform and Rural Development, the Department of Forestry and the Environment and the Department of Water and Sanitation need to engage with smallholders for inclusive planning and implementation of use of our resources. We also advance that the provision of social security measures, (e.g. a Basic Income Grant – BIG) is essential to move towards a Just Transition.

 

• Defence of a different development model. We live in a finite planet and the focus on permanent economic growth and extractivism of non-renewable resources is We believe that it is not possible to achieve Just Transitions in energy and food systems without addressing contradictions of the capitalism system. All governments can raise more money for climate finance by taxing the big polluters, develop and enforce mechanisms to end tax avoidance and evasion by corporates and the rich, and address unfair trade rules.

 

• Decolonisation and global justice and challenge the Global North to deal with their social and environmental debt to the Global South and call for reparations. While ruling governments and elite interests in the Global South connive with and profit from these arrangements, as the climate emergencies become more pronounced we see unbearable levels of suffering, deaths, environment and biodiversity destruction, unsustainable socio-economic exploitation and political instability as unsustainable debt repayments destroy our societies.

 

• Building alliances and networks with others who support, subscribe and advocate similar principles worldwide. More specifically we need to build solidarity with our sisters and brothers in the SADC region, who currently are even more vulnerable to the devastations of extreme climate change events and cyclones.

 

• Changes are needed at COP talks and processes – ongoing imbalances are likely going to be replicated at the next COP 30 (2025, Belem, Brazil).

 

• International Court of Justice hearings on responsibilities of states on climate change: We look forward to hearing about the outcomes of hearings that took place at the International Court of Justice between 2 and 13 December 2024, on the responsibilities of states under international law to address the climate crisis. The hearings follow a request submitted by the UN General Assembly (Resolution A/RES/77/276) and agreed to in March 2023.

30 YEARS OF UNFULFILLED PROMISES MUST END NOW. IT IS TIME FOR CONCRETE PRO-POOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES AND PROGRAMMES

Statement by the Trust for Community Outreach and Education and Inyanda National Land Movement

5 February 2025

This statement reflects the views of the Trust for Community Outreach and Education (TCOE) and thousands of South Africans involved in the movements the TCOE works with. The TCOE is a non-governmental organisation that works with the Inyanda National Land Movement, a land movement that includes mostly landless people in rural areas in five provinces (under traditional authorities in former homelands and coloured reserves as well as areas under municipalities), farm workers and dwellers, smallholder producers and fishers, and the Rural Women’s Assembly (RWA).

The President must recall that this year’s State of the Nation Address will be the 31^st since the official end of apartheid and transition to a parliamentary democracy, during which poor South Africans have been bombarded with endless unfulfilled promises for a better life. Yet, more than eight million South Africans are drowning in poverty and unemployment, manifestations of structural violence imposed by the state. This is a betrayal of all those who died for national liberation in the past years and have brought the ANC to power.

Mr President, the needs and rights of the impoverished in South Africa have been continually marginalised for the past 31 years. Thus, we expect that the SONA address will deal with the issues outlined below.

Land, poverty, austerity budget, energy transition and economic outlook

Land reform has fallen far below the political promises of the ANC post-apartheid government. Despite sustained criticism and demands from the dispossessed landless, backed by credible research from progressive academics, the government’s land reform pathway is a failure. The promised 30 per cent land redistribution has not been met after 30 years. The land reform budget has declined over the years despite growing demand for land and an increase in land prices demanded by proponents of “market related” compensation. Whilst the President recently signed the Land Expropriation Act, it is doubtful that it will help the cause for land reform at a larger scale and that it will benefit the landless in accessing fertile agricultural land. How will the Act strengthen the land tenure rights of farm workers and dwellers who constantly face eviction, and the land rights of rural people and halt their victimisation by traditional authorities who collude with capital in grabbing rural land away from its owners?

The President’s address must take tune from various court judgements and clarify the powers of traditional authorities as they are key facilitators of ongoing land grabbing in communal areas from the legitimate owners and perpetuating land dispossession. Moreover, the President needs to address the lack of clear policy on commonage land, which is being sold, leased and monopolised by white industrial farmers, resourced and politically connected people.

Access to land is one of the instruments the President must use to address historical dispossession, continued economic marginalisation and inequalities, poverty and widespread hunger and malnutrition. All of these continue to have a black face – with black women at the bottom of the hierarchy of continued patriarchal capitalist violence.  The SONA address must deal with the lack of support from government departments to smallholder producers and small fishers who defend and promote alternative agroecological models of production and include water access and rights of small producers, ending the monopolisation of water by white commercial farmers and big industry.

 

END

For enquiries contact:

Fani Ncapayi                       082 440 6067

Boyce Tom                            072 964 1725

Aaron Ranayeke                066 554 8728SONA Press Statement__6 February 2025

4 Dec 2024 on FMR101.3

The Guardians of Seed, Land, and Life exhibition, held at the historic Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town from 8 to 16 November 2024, was a powerful showcase of women’s vital role in food sovereignty, seed preservation, and sustainable farming practices.

The exhibition was launched by the Trust for Community Outreach and Education (TCOE) and the Rural Women’s Assembly (RWA), two organisations dedicated to empowering rural communities and promoting indigenous agro-ecological practices.

Their collaboration highlights the importance of women’s leadership in defending land and seed rights, challenging corporate control over agriculture, and ensuring the legacy of traditional farming practices is passed on to future generations.

[ABOVE] RWA Member and Exhibition Guest in conversation at Krotoa Chapel where the exhibition was hosted – Castle of Good Hope, Cape Town.

 

The TCOE, which has long focused on community outreach, education, and social justice, and the RWA, which advocates for the rights of rural women across South Africa, have together created a platform for these women to share their stories and struggles. The exhibition also celebrated the significance of seed-saving as both a cultural and political act, with women farmers, artists, and activists coming together to emphasise food sovereignty, indigenous seed preservation, and the urgent need for intergenerational knowledge-sharing.

[ABOVE] Reinette Heunis, Emily Tjale and Aunty “Ding” at an outdoor discussion with guests at the opening of ‘The Guardians of Seed, Land and Life’ exhibition – Castle of Good Hope, Cape Town.

Emily Tjale (Limpopo Province Seed Saver & Agroecologist) reflects on the deep connection between her family’s health-conscious farming tradition and her own commitment to seed preservation: “How do you at this age manage to be so strong?Because I inherited from my Mum’s genes. My Mum died at 101. Still going walking strong at 100 years and going into the garden and picking up Morogo. Never had all these chemicals, never had all these fried foods. So I took from her as a farmer to be diet conscious. Harvest it, the seed but don’t eat it.”

Emily continues to follow her mother’s path of sustainability by protecting and multiplying the seeds passed down through her family: “In my bag I travel with seeds that I harvested. That I multiply. In my bag I travel with seeds that I harvested. That I multiply. From the seeds my Mum gave me. From the seeds that my granny gave my Mum, from the seeds that I got from my in-laws, the grannies. I’m still protecting that seed. I’m still multiplying that seed. It must not fade away.”

She also highlights the national and global significance of the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB)’s efforts, particularly in the fight against Monsanto/Bayer and the State. Being a founding member of the The Rural Women’s Assembly (RWA) has strengthened how seed-saving is not just about farming—it’s about ensuring that these precious seeds are passed down:

“This is a victory to RWA. Because we are working with other sisters at ACB fighting Monsanto and we succeeded. Internationally. We are more than 900 seed savers in the Rural Women’s Assembly. The journey that we travelled was very hard, it wasn’t easy.”

[ABOVE] Reinette Heunis and Emily Tjale smile but also acknowledge the immense work put into the seed auditing research prior to all ‘The Guardians of Seed, Land and Life’ exhibitions hosted across the African continent and world.

Reinette Heunis from (Suurbraak Aquaponics) in the Western Cape region speaks emotionally about the exhibition eventually coming to the Western Cape and about how the movement has shaped her beliefs about seed sovereignty and land access.

She says: “It brought tears to my eyes. To be here, to bring it to the Western Cape. I was one of the enumerators. At RWA, here I find home. I accept the journey with everyone. We walked the path with everyone. Our forefathers and foremothers were giving us seeds and we didn’t recognise why but today we can see why we were getting seeds.”

Reinette also stresses the importance of women taking control of their seeds, intergenerational communication and warns against the government’s promotion of non-indigenous varieties:

“We were doing a workshop with younger sisters. Don’t let the government tell you that you can use any seeds. You need to use indigenous and traditional. You need to save your own seeds. They want to kill us. It was hard work.”

She advocates for the #OneWomanOneHectare campaign, which calls for women’s access to land to empower them in food production:

“We need land, we are driving the #One Woman One Hectare campaign so that we women can plant and become sustainable. We need to make sure that this is staying into our families.”

[ABOVE] Elsie Sauls speaks about indigenous seed saving at ‘The Guardians of Seed, Land and Life’ exhibition discussion with guests.

Elsie Sauls (Seed Saver & Agroecologist) – Ashton – Western Cape

Elsie Sauls from Ashton in the Western Cape states that seed saving is a vital practice for safeguarding food security.“I’ve been saving seeds since 2012.” She focuses on preserving  hybrid seeds, which she believes are crucial for long-term food security:“Hybrid seeds can be stored for longer periods, which makes them crucial for future generations.” Elsie has created her own seed bank to ensure that these seeds are protected.

[ABOVE] An indigenous seed array set up by Samantha Lee-Ann Philips from Genadendal in the Western Cape

Samantha Lee-Ann Philips – (Genadendal Seed Saver & Agroecologist)

Samantha, a seed saver and sharer of Genadendal in the Western Cape, is dedicated to preserving the diversity of local seeds.

She shares:“ I’m a seed saver, a seed sharer and a seed carer” These are seeds that I’ve gotten from the neighbourhood gardens, some of this is to save seed and to multiply it. To show the diversity of seeds here in the Western Cape.

Her commitment to seed-sharing extends beyond her local community, as she works to distribute seeds internationally: “To share it among other countries who don’t have these seeds. Other women here who are also in need of seeds.”

Samantha’s words highlight the power of community-driven initiatives to support global food sovereignty movements.

[ABOVE] Anela Jahmena is a reggae music vocalist who was one amongst several artists who performed – Castle of Good Hope Courtyard area.

Anela Jahmena (Vocalist & Performance Artist)

Anela draws a powerful parallel between the nurturing of seeds and people, especially children, emphasising the care that both need to thrive.

She reflects:“Just as children need water to grow,  seeds need care to thrive.”

Anela invites others to recognise the achievements of Black women in the food sovereignty movement, both as caretakers of the land and as nurturers of future generations: “Black women are not just planting seeds; we are nurturing future generations.”

 

[ABOVE] Vanessa Ludwig – Program Manager Africa Gender Unit – UCT in conversation with Healer, Indigenous Medicine Practitioner and Performance Artist, Ernestine Dean who performed at the event.

Vanessa Ludwig (Program Manager, Africa Gender Unit – UCT)

Vanessa has been an advocate for women’s land access and food sovereignty for over 20 years, and she highlights the importance of seed-saving in the broader movement for food justice.

“I’m very much a seed saver. I have been involved in struggles of women’s access to land for over 20 years.”

She mentions that: “Food sovereignty is a core issue for us, and seeds are foundational to this movement.” She stresses that access to land is vital for women to control their food systems: “Without land, women cannot control their food systems.”

Vanessa’s work continues to focus on securing land, soul and water rights for women, as she believes it is essential for them to be able to feed their communities sustainably.

Through the voices of these and many other women who were present, the exhibition illustrated the profound impact of their work in securing a just, sustainable, and equitable food system.

Their words resonate with the broader mission of the TCOE and RWA to protect indigenous farming practices, advocate for women’s land rights, and fight against the corporate forces that threaten food sovereignty. Guardians of Seed, Land, and Life was a reminder of the importance of land and seeds in the lives of rural and all women, and the critical need for these women to have the power to decide how their land and resources are used.

 

The Trust for Community Outreach and Education (TCOE) and the Rural Women’s Assembly prior launching the opening of the exhibition “Guardians of Seed, Land, and Life” at the historic Castle of Good Hope which was on display between November 8 up until November 16, 2024 invited 4 guests into studio for the ‘Review of the Arts’ segment on Radio 786.

This impactful exhibition highlights the vital role of women as seed guardians, showcasing their significant contributions to sustainable agroecology and biodiversity in Southern Africa. Through powerful storytelling and captivating visuals, visitors will explore the rich heritage of indigenous seeds and the importance of traditional farming practices.

It documents their invaluable contribution to food and seed sovereignty and the struggle to ensure the recognition of women small-scale farmers, peasants and producers in policy frameworks that protect the rights to seed, land and food.

Guests in conversation with Shanaaz Van Der Schyff included:

• Norah Mlondobozi (Limpopo Province)
• Janice Fiellies (Western Cape Province)
• Wendy Tsotetsi (Gauteng Province)
• Saba Zahara HoneyBush (Communications Consultant)

Empowering Smallholder Farmers Through Agroecology

On the 11th of November, during the Guardians of Seed, Land and Life Exhibition, women across Africa gathered to voice their concerns over seed policy and its impact on our land, water, and food systems.

The Trust for Community Outreach and Education (TCOE) and the Southern Africa Rural Women’s Assembly (RWA) hosted a powerful workshop at the Koena Art Institute – Castle of Good Hope. This gathering focused on advocacy efforts to protect our vital resources through agroecology, ensuring a sustainable and resilient future for our communities.

Together, we are taking action—one woman at a time—towards a healthier, more secure future.

#OneWomanOneHectare
#LandandWater4Food
#OneWomanatatime

Genadendal, Western Cape – The vibrant Day of Organic Trade and Celebration, held at the historic Werf in Genadendal on October 26, 2024, successfully followed up on the impactful World Food Day webinar that took place on 16 October 2024.

Organised by the Rural Women’s Assembly and The Trust for Community Outreach and Education (TCOE), the event celebrated the crucial role of rural women and small-scale farmers in advancing sustainable food systems and food sovereignty.

[LEFT: Poster for World Food Day event held at ‘Die Werf’, Genadendal]

 

[ABOVE] Beautiful hand painted fabric banner displayed around a tree

[RIGHT] Western Cape Coordinator for RWA: Reinette Heunis from Suurbraak Aquaponics hugging and welcoming women from multiple provincial and nationally based communities to the World Food Day at Die Werf in Genadendal.

On the day of celebration, local women farmers took centre stage, showcasing their dedication to organic farming and sustainable practices. The event provided a platform for them to highlight their hard work and resilience while promoting the benefits of organic produce.

On the day of celebration, local women farmers took centre stage, showcasing their dedication to organic farming and sustainable practices. The event provided a platform for them to highlight their hard work and resilience while promoting the benefits of organic produce.

[LEFT] Fresh produce sold by female farmers at the market at Die Werf, Genadendal.

 

Community members and supporters filled the Werf to engage with the produce on display—fresh organic goods available for purchase—and to celebrate the cultural vibrancy of the region, with local artists contributing their talents to the festivities. This included a song created together with the community by Heal the Hood and a public arts mural painted with children from the Primary and High Schools together with the HoneyBush Healing Arts Platform and Tess and her group who assisted with activities for the children, like face painting.

 

[ABOVE] Locally based school children painting World Food Day Mural in Genadendal

[ABOVE] Children at Tess and Group’s Bead Making & Face Painting tables.

[LEFT] Heal the Hood recording a song focusing on land and female farmer rights including their struggles at Die Werf, Genadendal.

 

The gathering not only emphasised the importance of local food systems but also encouraged meaningful discussions on food justice, climate justice, and how these movements are inextricably linked.

Attendees participated in conversations about the role of small-scale farmers in addressing food insecurity and the global food system’s sustainability challenges, highlighting how local solutions can have a powerful impact on a broader scale.

[ABOVE and LEFT] Rural Women from various different communities partaking in the day’s activities.

The day was a powerful reminder that the fight for climate justice cannot be separated from the struggle for food justice, especially for the women and communities who have long been at the forefront of sustainable agricultural practices. Through collective efforts and continued support,a more equitable and sustainable future is within reach.

[ABOVE] Western Cape based RWA representative shows the ‘Herbs that heal’ booklet to local women which is shared for free alongside other resources at the event and market.

Special shout-outs and heart of gratitude in particular to leaders in the communities of Calitzdorp, Zoar, Barrydale, Suurbraak Aquaponics, Zolani, Roberson, Mcgregor, Nkqubela, Rawsonville, De Doorns and our hosts in various villages of Genadendal. Also a special thank-you to women who travelled in from other provinces.

We appreciate the time it took you travelling in, many for several hours prior.

Big thank-you to sponsors & organisational/community collaborators:

• Africa Unite
• Heal the Hood Project
• Women on Farms Project
• Cape Town Youth
• Sister Love
• Recardo Carelsen – Senior Agricultural Advisor (Western Cape Department of Agriculture) Western Cape Government
• Breede-Gouritz Catchment Management Agency
• Tessa and Group for activities with children
• Our MC & Project-Coordinators – Reinette Heunis & Denia Jansen
• HoneyBush Healing Arts Platform (child-led mural painting with children): SabaZahara HoneyBush
• #OneWomanOneHectare
• #landandwater4food
• #WorldFoodDay2024
• #organicfarming
• #westerncape
• #DieWerf
• #Genadendal

 

Clarence Ford speaks to Norah Mlongobozi seed saver and Elsie Sauls Seed saver.

[RIGHT Mawubuye Meeting 2023

The process of facilitating the building of a vibrant voice of the rural and urban impoverished and underdeveloped by TCOE was as a result of thought through processes and thorough contextual analysis and learning from other practises and from own experiences.

Core to this strategy was enabling the affected poor to realise their plight, champion and lead their struggles.

This approach also involves building from below, different sectors that includes, Farmworkers and Dwellers, women organisations, small scale farmers, small scale fishers, and the unemployed workers that culminated into a national formation called Inyanda National Land Movement in 2013 and Rural Women’s Assembly.

[LEFT] Coast to Coast 

These sectors being confronted by complex contextual challenges and therefore to facilitate this process demands multi-pronged interventions and organisation that is rooted to struggles of the grassroots.  It requires certain calibre of activists that have a certain level of commitment to the cause of our revolution and understanding.  It also requires the ability to analyse the root cause of the deepening crisis of socio-political and economic environment.

Therefore, it was not by accident that TCOE has to develop cadreship and leadership building programmes, building the conscience of these sectors with a special focus to women and youth, but without underestimating the challenges in mobilizing and organising youth because its fluidity and difficult to sustain them in the movement.

[ABOVE] Study school under the trees

Among other strategies employed to realise this objective were, organising popular education platforms, leadership and political schools, awareness raising programmes, speak-out sessions and establishment of study circles. A layer of leadership established that led the struggles and most visible at local level. Essentially the conscience building process was critical but it was equally important to build a movement that will act to the contextual challenges faced with and able to link the local and national with global economic and political issues.  To investigate and research issues affecting the target group for substance and evidence to back up our struggles was also core to this journey.

[ABOVE] Women farm in rows

The dilemma and the reality we were faced with was organising communities that were rooted into crisis of poverty and totally excluded in participating actively in the economy of the country. A community that has been grossly affected by history of land dispossession, legislative framework and policies that endorses oppression and exploitation. The failure of the Land and Agrarian Reform Programme to respond and address the land and agrarian question. The nature and the extent of the change faced by Inyanda and RWA demanded building alliances and partnerships for solidarity in action and mass action.

It also became critical that TCOE to integrate, support issues of food security and sovereignty and development of sustainable alternatives of food production and land use. Thus, the ideas of embarking on agroecology i.e. producing food ecologically, establishment of organic seedlings nurseries and seed-banks. This was also a strategy to combat the use of genetically modified seeds and providing environmentally agricultural method as opposed to dominant industrial agriculture that contributes to the crises of climate change and global warming as well has negative impact to environment. The recent instances of disasters/floods in Port St Johns and sea overflows in Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape are the concrete examples of this phenomenon and the latter seeks to confirm the importance of the struggles for climate justice and development of appropriate alternatives.

[LEFT] Farmers during harvesting peppers- packaging before going to market 

The list is long of the issues faced the working class and the rural poor, the collapsing local government municipalities and its failure to deliver essential services and the ruling party and ensure democracy and equality. The democracy campaign and education used as a vehicle to respond to this crisis. Building, organising and mobilizing alternative movements and forums to be alternative voices and contest the space to promote and instil democracy within this institution. To deal with the legacy of apartheid regime and the capital system, the need to engage with struggles for policy transformation became an integral part of our approach and strategy.  Policies that were consolidating and an extension of oppression and exploitation of the working class.

It is essential to mention that there were moments of Uhuru, moments and victories that we need to celebrate and learn from them. TCOE mobilised thousands of men, women and youth and organised a National Land Conference parallel process with its alliances to discuss the Land and Agrarian Transformation issues and develop policy positions and shape the agenda to resolve the land and agrarian question in this country. For strategic reasons a delegation was sent to influence the debates of the Global Land Conference to influence and engage with the conference discussions. TCOE contributed a lot in the establishment of the Landless peoples Movement launched during the National Land Conference in Johannesburg.

As part of putting Land and Agrarian question top on the agenda organised a Tribunal to expose the inequalities that exist in this country with institution of high learning, different types of movements, civil society organisations and legal fraternity. The strategic government departments were invited and engaged on the subject matter to account and to say exactly what are their positions and response to these challenges.

In the latest discussions we were reviewing the work of building Inyanda, recognised that the current moment is different from anti -apartheid period and therefore our conception and prosecution of building a mass movement must be different. We have not achieved the anticipated growth and impact, only the basics. Within Inyanda, there are some affiliates which resembles signs of success and others not. In our recruitment and mobilisation strategy, we did not disaggregate membership of backyard gardens from livestock and large farmers.

Recognising challenges of building movements in the context of mass poverty and inequality accompanying by a challenging political environment (a rallying call), we change our approach in which we recognise a need to provide benefits. And, thus, agro-ecology becomes central in our organising strategy. Included in this will be visibility in public policy and advocacy on key issues such as access to land and water. Various sectors such as livestock, farm workers, etc. will continue to meet as sectors to reflect on their issues and these consolidated in a national platform in which solidarity actions are coordinated and sharing of lessons and perspectives takes place. The internal restructuring process will result in capable staff that will lead and drive the building of Inyanda National Land Movement.

The International Photo Exhibition commenced to expose the deepened poverty and Inequalities in South Africa was organised by TCOE. This included delegation of staff TCOE and movements’ delegates to go to various countries that include West and East Germany and present the case of South Africa using the photos that depict poverty as evidence. It is true that this process has not just strengthened relations between TCOE and the other parts of the world but raised its profile and footprint.

[ABOVE] National Strat Plan – 2023

The struggles against Austerity Budget, budget cuts on essential services cannot be undermined, working with a strategic partner like AIDC, Left Socialists Organisations, Individuals and the Labour Movements, at all levels (locally, provincially and nationally) These struggles had contributed massively in building leadership that can lead and give strategic direction. Lastly the least is long but the struggles for access to marine resources and fight against the extraction of commons and seismic blasts that resulted in court cases are also a measure stick of our successes and victories of with other formations with likeminded vision and mission.