The department of public works plans to release 21,132ha for land restitution in the current financial year, more than eightfold the amount of land it made available in 2020, as the state ramps up efforts to address the pressing land question that has polarised SA in recent years.
While this will be a marked increase over the previous year during which 2,574ha were released by the department in the land restitution programme, the government is still far from successfully completing the land reform programme, which is necessary to ensure a stable and growing agricultural and rural economy.
Restitution, which is a crucial part of the land reform project, involves the restoration of land or paying compensation to persons or communities dispossessed of their land rights during the colonial and apartheid eras.
Redistribution focuses mainly on transferring white-owned commercial farm land or state-owned commercial land to Africans.
Public works minister Patricia de Lille said in her budget vote speech in parliament on Tuesday that in the previous financial year 2,574ha were released for the restitution programme to the department of agriculture, land reform & rural development to finalise land transfers to claimants.
A further 125 parcels of agricultural land totalling 25,500ha and covering all nine provinces were released for land redistribution in 2020.
The government had an initial target of transferring at least 24.5-million hectares to people dispossessed under apartheid by 2014. It missed that target with only about 4-million hectares transferred. The government has since been scrambling to address the land issue amid a push for expropriation of private owned land without compensation.
Rogue officials
The state has a huge property portfolio including more than 1.9-million hectares of land under the custodianship of the department of public works. Critics of the drive to amend section 25 of the constitution to make expropriation of land without compensation explicit often say the government should focus on redistributing land it owns, some of which is unaccounted for or underused.
The land reform programme has largely been tardy and chaotic with a 2019/2020 report of the auditor-general showing that the eviction of farmers from their profitable farming enterprises by “rogue officials” of the agriculture, rural development & land reform department had resulted in claims of more than R2bn being instituted against the state.
De Lille said her department’s real estate investment services, that drives the work of land reform, would be allocated R220m for the financial year to do its work. The departmental budget allocation over the medium term is R25.5bn.
According to the Budget Review, over the medium term a total of R14.6bn will be allocated to finalise outstanding land restitution claims and support land-reform initiatives.
De Lille said the department will focus on accelerated infrastructure investment for economic growth and proactively ensure spatial transformation and redress through leveraging state assets, among other targets.
“In the 2021/2022 financial year, the department plans to release 21,132ha for land restitution, 10,951ha for human settlements and 180ha for other socio-economic purposes,” she said.
Public hearings
In her speech, DA MP and public works spokesperson Samantha Graham accused the government of using the Expropriation Bill, which is before parliament, as an electioneering tool.
“The [public works] portfolio committee is currently engaged in public hearings on the Expropriation Bill. We have visited five provinces and it is becoming increasingly evident that this bill is being packaged as the answer to SA’s land crisis,” Graham said.
The misunderstanding by the public about the purpose of the Expropriation Bill is not being corrected, she said.
“In every province, the call for expropriation of land without compensation and the ensuing expectation of the allocation of land to each person, is gathering momentum ... Many have threatened bloodshed if they do not get their land back. The minister, and the ANC government, are creating false expectations that are going to place this country in crisis. It might be an election year, but we need to act responsibly. Our citizens deserve to know the truth,” Graham said.
She said that the Expropriation Bill is about giving the government the right to expropriate property.
“There is nothing in the bill that provides an indication of what the expropriated property will be used for, least of all that it is for land reform. False expectations on something as critical as land are extremely dangerous,” Graham said.
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