Women should benefit from the settlement of land claims, Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister Lulu Xingwana said on Tuesday.
Handing over commercial land valued at R1-billion to four communities in Mpumalanga, she said it was crucial that women were not marginalised.
”Women must benefit significantly from the economic benefits that follow with this claim,” she said.
The minister handed over 32ha of land to the communities of Lugedlane, Siboshwa, Hhoyi and Mbambiso who were dispossessed of their land right in 1954 in line with the Native Land Act of 1913.
”We commend the four chiefs and the community who lodged a claim with the commission for the restoration of their land,” she said.
”We are paying market-related prices, which are fair prices; we are not grabbing the land,” she said.
She, however, said the government would not hesitate to expropriate land should land owners and the government fail to reach an agreement on price regarding claimed land.
”We have said we are not going to negotiate for more than six months and I have instructed my officials to start to implement the provisions of the Constitution and Restitution Act and to start with expropriation,” she said.
She said there were about 5 279 outstanding claims and some would not be finalised by 2008 due to a number of reasons.
President Thabo Mbeki has instructed that all land claims should be settled by 2008. — Sapa