South African Government’s Plan to Fast-Track Land Reform

The South African government says it will fast-track land reform while waiting for the Parliamentary process to unfold (whereby the Constitution is due to be amended to pave the way for land expropriation without compensation).

Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane says the department will use the existing legal framework to fast track land reform… for instance, using “existing constitutional provisions to argue for limited compensation including in cases such as the return of land to labour tenants and farm dwellers.”

Tabling her budget vote speech in the Old Assembly Chamber in Parliament on Friday, Nkoana-Mashabane said the establishment of the Office of the Valuer-General and the utilisation of the current provisions of the Constitution have already begun to yield positive results on the prices paid for land acquisition.

She said the department intends to introduce the Regulation of the Agricultural Land Bill this year, which will introduce land ownership ceilings on agricultural land.

“We will continue to use the full potential of existing laws to fast track rural development and land reform,” she said.

Update on the land restitution process

The Minister said, meanwhile, that to date government has settled 80 664 claims which have benefited 2.1 million beneficiaries at a cost of R40 billion, inclusive of financial compensation to beneficiaries.

She said 163 463 of these are female-headed households.

“To date we have restored 3.5 million hectares of land which can be used as a catalyst to change the lives of our people who are still stuck in the second economy.

“Land without the requisite support fails to unlock the full value chain,” she said.

In the year ahead, the department plans to acquire 98 100 hectares of land through the Pro-active Land Acquisition Strategy and through financial partnerships as part of Operation Phakisa initiatives.

She said labour tenants and farm dwellers will be prioritised.

“The department will pilot 18 farms to support the accelerated land development and redistribution initiative to support peri-urban agriculture and the revitalisation of rural towns.

“The total budget of R1.2 billion is set aside for the acquisition of land to support these programmes,” she said. – SAnews.gov.za

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