READER LETTER | Steenhuisen getting his hands dirty

28 August 2024 - 07:15
By READER LETTER
Agriculture minister John Steenhuisen.
Image: Veli Nhlapo Agriculture minister John Steenhuisen.

The GNU seems to be a welcome change for many politicians who have been yearning for an active, meaningful life in politics, instead of those long unending debates and disputes that added no real value to the lives of the people, while ensuring a comfortable life for politicians who were always guaranteed a pay cheque at the end of the month, without lifting a finger.

Some of the ministers have wasted no time in being engrossed in their portfolios with the enthusiasm that can only guarantee the best of results, while others are still finding their feet, which is also important because you don’t want to rush things and blunder in the process.

The new minister of agriculture, John Steenhuisen, seems to be upbeat about his new job and continuing with his position as the leader of the DA, confident that it won’t be too much for him to juggle the two positions. He has great plans to grow the country’s GDP, promote youth empowerment in agriculture and reduce the general unemployment rate in the country.

While agriculture is a diversified industry with poultry, animal husbandry, fruit tree planting, vegetables and other crops, with climate change, there are many challenges to contend with; droughts, excessively high temperatures, flooding and in some areas locust infestation of crops.

In the past it was easy to plan crop rotation when the climate was predictable, thus ensuring maximum use of the land all year round. Corruption seems to be rife in the agricultural industry. The minister is already probing a R500m that was meant to be used for the production of some vaccines for animals, but the previous government cannot account as to how the money was spent, which is a reminder of the disappointment of the poor in the Free State regarding the failure of the empowerment project the Estina dairy project.

Hopefully, minister Steenhuisen will do everything to weed out corruption in the case of R500m agricultural tender, that went missing, with the investigation that is under way.

Exciting times.

Cometh Dube-Makholwa, Midrand