Dear Sir,
Congratulations on being elected as chairman of the Agriculture Portfolio Committee. As you are no doubt aware, agriculture is one of the backbones of our country's economy and without getting into our sad history, I believe that one of the saddest issues of our past is that the agriculture potential of the Eastern Cape (read Transkei and Ciskei) as well as Natal (read Zululand) were grossly neglected. The Apartheid Governments of the day developed many successful irrigation schemes throughout the country to develop agriculture and encourage white farmers to invest in agriculture. Vaalhartz, Olifants, Orange-Fishriver, to name a few.
Is it not time that we now develop irrigation schemes in the Kei as well as Tugela rivers to encourage development and investment in these neglected regions of our country?