When seeking the truth, pay attention to the detail. Because it’s things which never make the headlines that often matter most. So I took a deeper look into a note from the Presidency issued yesterday. One informing us that eight months after its formation, the 10-person Advisory Panel on Land Reform had submitted its final report.
The report will be discussed in Cabinet before being released publicly, so there is no indication yet what it contains. But you have to be hopeful about its conclusions. At least I am, after examining the backgrounds of panellists.
These panellists ranged from gifted young professionals to leading agricultural academics; self-made entrepreneurs to SA’s Young Farmer of the Year. Plus, they would have been guided by a couple of long-standing members of the National Planning Commission, whose experience will have schooled them in appreciating inter-related complexities often missed by those coming from a particular perspective.
The panel’s composition would have ensured all sides of this highly charged issue would have have considered. I like that. Not just because it’s so much better than the rubber stamping or, worse, ignorant blundering of the recent past. But because it is only by opening up to alternative thought processes that we find sustainable solutions.
