ASUF Plenary meets to elect new leaders and chart the way forward
Agri-sector Unity Forum (ASUF) held an Extraordinary Plenary on the 8th of July 2014. Following the milestone 1st ASUF Policy Conference earlier in the year and the subsequent untimely passing of the Chairperson of ASUF, Ms Ntombi Msimang, a Special ASUF Plenary was called to determine the way forward and elect new leadership. Prof Mohammad Karaan facilitated the meeting and indicated the challenges facing ASUF.
The Plenary elected Mr Japie Grobler as chairperson of ASUF for the next term and Mr Pitso Sekhoto as the deputy chairperson. “Today’s meeting was important as ASUF had essentially successfully completed its first stage of development and it was necessary to frankly debate critical issues facing the sector in order to eventually move from functional unity to greater structural unity”, said Mr Grobler.
“The most critical issue facing the sector, and also limiting greater unity within the sector, is the question of land reform. To this end ASUF has established a dedicated land reform committee that will develop a comprehensive, coherent and cohesive land reform plan for submission to government by the end of 2014”, Mr Grobler said. He further added that the ASUF Land Reform Plan would be a pro-active step to address policy and political uncertainty on this issue. This uncertainty is impacting negatively on investment confidence and growth of the sector, and is in turn impacting negatively on food security and job creation.
Press release
