Jubie Matlou
The government has adopted a two-pronged policy towards land reform, namely land restitution and land redistribution.
This policy is designed to reverse land ownership patterns that took shape following the Land Act of 1913, which saw 87% of the most arable land given to a ruling minority, and the remaining 13% to the majority, who were disenfranchised at the time.
Land restitution is about giving back land to those communities and individuals who were forcibly removed from their land under the apartheid laws.
The Restitution of Land Rights Act of 1994 provides for five ways of restoration:
l The restoration of land from which claimants were dispossessed;
l provision of alternative land;
l monetary compensation;
lpreferential access to government housing; and
l land development programmes.
The Act provided for a three-year period – between January 1995 and December 1998 – in which claims could be lodged before the Land Claims Commission.
A total of 63E455 claims were lodged. Of these, 4E925 claims have been settled, involving 16E015 households, at a cost of about R219-million.
The land redistribution policy approach, on the other hand, is governed by the Provision of Land and Assistance Act of 1994.
This programme is part of the overall government strategy of poverty alleviation in the rural areas, in terms of which communities are given access to secure land for sustainable development or residential purposes.
The programme seeks to assist the rural poor: labour tenants, farm workers, women and emergent farmers.
The government has established a land- acquisition grant for beneficiaries, based on a willing buyer-willing seller principle.
An estimated 40E000 households have benefited from the programme.
The land restoration and redistribution programmes are meant to dovetail with the rural development integrated strategy, which seeks to alleviate poverty and foster development in the three poorest provinces: the Northern Province, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
The strategy is co-ordinated by the office of the president.
It is estimated that the state owns about 25% of the total land. However, there is no coherent policy on state land disposal that would unlock economic opportunities for beneficiaries.