By Hajira Khota

The National Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRDD) invalidated the vouchers it had issued to emerging farmers in KwaZulu-Natal who had been approved to receive support from the Presidential Employment Stimulus (PES) Scheme.

Speaking to Radio Islam International; Noko Masipa, DA member of parliament, said the DA has been inundated with complaints from recipients since the scheme’s inception.

“We were told that the providers charged around a 27% commission, leaving the beneficiary with nearly nothing.”

Mapisa says that, another issue was that none of the agricultural items were available from the suppliers.

’”They sourced the commodities from agricultural cooperatives and then added a mark-up to whatever amount they paid for them. In the end, the beneficiary had to pay twice as much for the same item”.

DALRDD stated that it is examining, re-engineering, and rethinking the PES implementation to solve the issues.

As part of the Presidential Employment Stimulus (PES) in South Africa, the department said it had provided production input vouchers to benefit subsistence farmers.

President Cyril Ramaphosa launched the Presidential Employment Stimulus in October 2020 as part of the government’s response to the economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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