There will be ”far-reaching negative consequences” if government abandons the willing-buyer, willing-seller approach to land reform, the Democratic Alliance (DA) warned on Monday.
The party was reacting to media reports that government is considering radical changes to its land-reform policy.
”Abandoning the willing-buyer, willing-seller principle in favour of a model that sounds uncomfortably close to the pre-land invasion model in Zimbabwe will have far-reaching negative consequences for South Africa,” DA land affairs spokesperson Maans Nel said in a statement.
A Department of Land Affairs discussion document, leaked to Farmer’s Weekly magazine last week, reportedly blames the slow pace of land reform on adherence to the willing-buyer, willing-seller principle.
The document further proposes the principle be abandoned in favour of the ”Zimbabwean model”.
Nel said such a proposal threatened to ”undermine constitutional provisions, which enshrine the ‘just and equitable’ purchase of property by the state, as well as the need to consider the market value of the property”.
He called on the department to open its recent workshop discussions on land reform to all affected parties.
”The DA is fully in favour of a sustainable, equitable and just land-reform programme. However, we believe in the retention of a market-oriented approach to land reform, which includes the upholding of the willing-buyer, willing-seller principle.”
Departing from this was fraught with difficulty and undermined people’s confidence in the state.
”Expropriation is a recognised tool for land redistribution, but must only be embarked upon in exceptional circumstances. At the moment, there is still much that can be achieved using the current land policy.
”The state is lagging behind in its commitment to redistribute 30% of agricultural land to black owners by 2014.
”However, this is not due, as claimed by the government, to ‘distortions and imperfections’ of the land market, or to a deliberate plan by farmers to obstruct the reform process by demanding unreasonable prices.
”It is due, rather, to a lack of initiative and ineffective management and regulation by the government of the current land policy,” he said. — Sapa