Rural Development Strategic Partners

Who we work with:

A key strategic partner is the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR) who extended the mandate for Comprehensive Rural Development to provinces, through the Office of the Premier.

The KwaZulu-Natal Premier has mandated the MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development,
Mr Cyril Xaba to be the Champion for CRDP.

The institutional arrangement for the CRDP

KITT (KZN Rural Development Interdepartmental Task Team) is a special vehicle structure responsible for co-ordinating provincial activities geared towards effective, timeous and integrated implementation of the National Development Plan (NDP), MTSF Outcome 7 and the Comprehensive Rural Development Plan.

Membership of the KITT includes:

• Director-General and Heads of Provincial Departments
• Representatives from National Departments based in KwaZulu-Natal
• KwaZulu-Natal Planning Commission
• Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife
• Trade and Investment KZN
• Reps from business, academia, NGO sector, ESKOM, Traditional Leadership, organised labour, Civil society

In addition, DARD is working closely with the DRDLR to establish and support District land and Agriculture Committees (DLAC) comprised of district stakeholders.

The purpose of the DLAC is two-fold:

Firstly, to identify and allocate a minimum of 20 percent farming land (strategically located agricultural land) in the area that is easily acquirable and which does not cause distortions in the land market (Types of such land may include land that has already been placed on the market, land which is owned by persons suffering financial problems, land owned by absentees landlords willing to participate in the redistribution programme and land in a deceased estate) and

Secondly, to provide an integrated approach in the screening, assessment and approval of projects on a district level from both DAFF and DRDLR. The processing of these project applications will fall within the applicable framework of the programmes and policies of DAFF and DRDLR.