SACC takes issue with govt's land-reform policies
The government lacks efficient policies for land reform and redistribution, South African Council of Churches (SACC) secretary general Eddie Makue said on Wednesday.
As far as he knows, they don’t exist, he said at the opening of a three-day SACC national land-reform conference in Kempton Park.
Churches needed to continue to be involved in the struggle for land, which continued “into the new dispensation”, he said.
The SACC had set out years ago to find ways of using church land to eradicate poverty, set an example for other land owners—particularly the government—and ensure justice in land reform, said Makue.
It had since learned that “the government is slower than the church in their pace of land reform”, he said.
It was apparent that land redistribution was inhibited by the reluctance of some land owners to sell, and the motivation of others to maximise their profit.
Equally, if the government’s present budgetary allocations continued, it would take 300 years to have equitable land reform, Makue charged.
He said land reform was being hampered by the promotion or transfer of land officials just when progress was being made.
Another stumbling block was the government’s reluctance to expropriate land when the Constitution gave the government space to do so, particularly with regard to unused and under-utilised land.
The government’s policy of a willing buyer, willing seller “doesn’t work for us”, he said.
Makue went on to criticise the sale of prime land to foreigners, singling out that of coastal land and vineyards in the Western Cape.
“In some areas of KwaZulu-Natal, you can’t get to the beach because the houses belong to private people and they have privatised the beaches as well,” he said.
Exorbitant prices also left young South Africans unable to afford land and housing. “Our children will not be able to afford shelter.”
“...
“Our future is determined by our present ... We believe and have faith that a better South Africa is possible ...,” he said.—Sapa
