Land Reform and Rural Development Minister Mzwanele Nyhontso. (OJ Koloti/Gallo Images via Getty Images)
SCORE: C+
One of the first actions of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania president on taking office was to drop his plan to scrap section 25 of the Constitution and to instead focus on using existing legislation to secure access to land. Mzwanele Nyhontsho inherited a backlog of just over 5 700 land claims from 1998 and a further 130 000 that were lodged in 2014 with the ministry, which was paired with agriculture up until May 2024. He will be hard pressed to deliver where a series of ANC ministers failed but has thus far focused on consultation with land claimants, rural communities and the entities under his ministry, including the Ingonyama Trust Board. Nyhontsho has also started discussions with other national and provincial ministries to work on providing the services and programmes necessary for developing rural communities.