The government will speed up efforts to identify and release public land that is suitable for urban settlements and farming, President Cyril Ramaphosa said during his state of the nation address (Sona) on Thursday night.
The state has a massive property portfolio of more than 93,000 buildings and about 1.9-million hectares of land under the custodianship of the department of public works.
Those who question the drive to amend section 25 of the constitution to allow for expropriation of land without compensation say the government should focus on redistributing land it owns, some of which is unaccounted for or underutilised.
Ramaphosa said faster economic growth also requires accelerated land reform in rural and urban areas and a clear property rights regime.
“We have received the report of the presidential advisory panel on land reform and agriculture, which will now be presented to cabinet for consideration,” Ramaphosa said.
He said the panel’s recommendations will inform the completion of a comprehensive, far-reaching and transformative land reform programme.
Ramaphosa said in the immediate term, the government would identify and release public land.
This comes as the debate on expropriation without compensation continues to rage. Late in 2018, the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) adopted a contentious report that called for a constitutional amendment to make it explicit that land expropriation without compensation could be used to address skewed land ownership patterns dating back to the colonial and apartheid eras.
The debate on the issue has polarised the country and spooked investors, with the proposed amendment set to be challenged in court by various stakeholders and political parties. The matter will also feature strongly in parliament in the coming months.
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