Mabuza pushes for land restitution and transformation

• Published date: 27 May 2022
• Publication title: South African Official News

Deputy President David Mabuza says the nation is at a watershed moment where the land question must be tackled head-on through all constitutionally compliant instruments in order to effect the necessary changes.

'We are at a crossroads, one possibly leading to anarchy and destruction, and the other, leading to a carefully guided land reform programme that ensures strategic land acquisition, land redistribution, and restitution of land to its rightful owners and those who need it for development,' Mabuza said on Friday.

The Deputy President, in his capacity as the Chairperson of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Land Reform and Agriculture, was speaking at the Communal Land Administration and Tenure Summit underway in Boksburg, Gauteng.

The two-day summit will reflect on the recommendations of the Presidential Advisory Panel on Land Reform and Agriculture, and deliberate on the progress made in the implementation of the 2017 resolutions of the Traditional Leaders' Indaba.

While accepting that land reform is a complex and emotive matter, the Deputy President affirmed government's determination to walk the path to its rightful end.

He emphasised that land tenure reform remains a critical component of government's land reform programme.

'Not only is accelerated land reform a necessary condition for restorative justice, but it is a pre-condition for forging unity and social cohesion across the nation.

'Government is committed to ensuring that our land reform programme delivers on the aspirations of ordinary people.

'While the scope of our summit has been framed to cover land administration and tenure in communal areas, as government, we are aware of the urgent need to effect land transformation that goes beyond the 13% of communal land under the jurisdiction of traditional leaders,' the Deputy President said.

Policy to assist in acquisition of more land

Mabuza said government will proceed with the available policy and legislative instruments to assist in the acquisition of more land for redistribution and expansion of communal land, 'especially in areas where land has been expropriated in the public interest'.

'We will ensure that land issues not covered in the deliberations of this narrowly focused summit are firmly placed on the agenda of the Inter-Ministerial Task Team that is seized with addressing all issues raised by traditional and Khoi-San leaders.

'We are encouraged that on the occasion of the Indigenous and Traditional Indaba in 2017, traditional leaders...