Land reform in SA has not been handled properly and a change in approach is needed, said the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform.
Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, Gugile Nkwinti said this approach would not include land grabs, although it would include precarious tenure for foreigners.
He told a riled up Black Management Forum annual conference on Thursday in Midrand, Gauteng that the process would not mean freehold policies being changed on purchases of private land to something less secure.
The conference had just heard from Professor Shadrack Gutto from Unisa and socio-political activist Andile Mngxitama, who both highlighted the failure so far in transferring land to the majority.
Gutto called for a land reform Codesa to solve the continuing problems in transferring ownership and questioned why reform had to be on a freehold basis (to perpetuity), while Mngxitama went so far as to say the government was just a manager for white business.
"We need a new approach in dealing with land. We will no longer allocate land in the way we have,” said Nkwinti.
He said, they will now publicise it and ask people who want to run farms as a business, rather than people who are just having braais there.
He indicated some land buyers in the reform process didn't even live there, so that land was not productive.
"Farming is a business, so you must apply and we will help you as it is very expensive to farm."
The Minister said production must be disturbed minimally in the process.
"We can't grab land. Let's disabuse ourselves of this. Guess what, if that happens people don't produce and then fight among themselves and look to government to come solve their problems."
As to foreign ownership of land, the proposal in the current green paper is for freehold ownership, but with precarious tenure.
Nkwinti said in those areas they cannot get them out, they must contribute to transformation.
Even if we are accused of being racist in our approach, we are not ashamed of that, we will push that. We have to do it.
"When we say freehold with limited extent we mean that not just one person controls large tracts of land. Those who own land understand this better than those who don't," he explained.
It has been reported that South Africa's target to give 40 percent of commercial farmland to black people by 2014, has been put back a decade due to inefficiency and corruption.
It has also been questioned whether government could even raise the money to do it, estimated at some R40 billion.
A Land Management Commission has a big role to play to coordinate and monitor the execution of land management functions by all state and public land custodians to ensure compliance with the agreed policy of the government on land, according to the green paper.
A Land Rights Management Board is also proposed, to be composed of representatives of sectors which hold rights to land. It will build institutional capacity to support right holders.
A number of working groups are currently working on the proposals together with stakeholders, with a deadline for their work of end December.
The Minister invited the BMF to take part in this process as the work on implementing the new reforms needed everyone to get involved, not just the state.
Nkwinti hopes to have the new bodies to run the new reform agenda in place by March next year. - Evan Pickworth - I-Net Bridge
Readers' Comments Have a comment about this article? Email us now.
Print
