Govt to relaunch Land Bank

Cape Town - Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Tuesday that he and Agriculture Minister Tina Joemat-Petterson and Land Reform Minister Ernest Nkwinti are crafting a new structure and mission for the Land Bank between them.

Gordhan was asked at a media briefing in parliament about a line in the adjustment estimates of national expenditure, which he tabled in the National Assembly on Tuesday.

The adjustment expenditure book says that a billion rand of recapitalisation set aside of the recapitalisation of the bank in the February budget has not yet been allocated.

But Gordhan told journalists: "In the next few months we will be crafting a new a way forward for the bank which integrates commercial farming interests, developmental farming projects, building a new agricultural base and linking all of that with the new rural development strategy."

He added they are trying to speed up investigations into criminal activity by culprits at the bank

"The Land Bank management over the last few years made some disastrous errors on the one side and there are serious allegations of corruption and fraud," he said.

"Those allegations are currently being investigated... We want that investigation finished as soon as possible, and a reasonable number of culprits who appear to be involved with this (dealt with), so that South Africans can be assured that the justice system is working in South Africa, and that culprits who literally steal money from institutions like the Land Bank to enrich themselves cannot be allowed to get away with it.

"Part of that message is to discourage others in other institutions that the government and its institutions are not here to be pickpocketed."

- I-Net Bridge