Land claims policy to be reviewed
2 August 2005
The government is to review its willing buyer, willing seller land reform policy, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and Land Affairs Minister Thoko Didiza announced last week.
Speaking at the five-day Land Summit in Johannesburg last Wednesday, Mlambo-Ngcuka said a change of policy may be needed to speed up the process of land reform, which is key to SA's long-term political and economic stability.
The process seeks to return land taken from black South Africans during the apartheid era to its original owners. The cut-off year for claims was 1998.
Under the current policy, the state buys land from willing sellers at market-related prices to redistribute to black communities.
Didiza said the reality of the land market should "mediate" the model. The state, as sole buyer, needed to decisively influence the land reform process.
The policy has been criticised for delaying the land reform process, as sellers' prices "are
often very high, negatively affecting the quantity land one wishes to buy, as a result landless people suffer".
Didiza said the government had inherited one of the world's most racially skewed land distribution patterns, with whites owning 87% of agricultural land, and blacks only 13%.
She said undoing this legacy of apartheid was a fundamental priority for South Africa.
The government plans to distribute 30% of prime agricultural land to blacks by 2014, and to complete its restitution scheme by 2008.
By February 2005, about 3.5-million hectares had been redistributed to 168 000 households. By March, the land restitution commission had settled about 74% of claims.
President Thabo Mbeki said three years ago that all land claims should be settled by 2005. Earlier this year he pushed the deadline to 2008 after it became clear that the initial deadline would not be met.
SouthAfrica.info reporter
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