The government will not impose an immediate moratorium on the purchase and sale of land to foreigners, Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs Thoko Didiza said on Friday — this after a panel of experts she appointed in 2004 to look into the ownership of South African land by foreigners suggested a moratorium be imposed while she studied its interim report on the phenomenon.
The panel’s third report — and the first made public — was released in Pretoria on Friday.
”There is a very strong public perception that an unregulated ownership of land, such as housing by foreigners, contributes significantly to the lack of readily available and affordable land for land reform,” said the panel’s deputy chairperson, Joe Matthews.
The panel has suggested the gathering of information, such as the nationalities of buyers, when land transactions take place; ministerial approval of certain land transactions; and a change in the way land is zoned and land use approved.
”You can not have a situation where government does not know what is going on … you can’t plan and develop if you don’t know what the situation is with land ownership,” Matthews said.
Didiza said she would study the report and discuss it with Cabinet before making any decisions.
”As government we would look at the recommendations, but I want to make it clear that it would be only it would only be once government has decided on the process it wants to follow on the recommendation that it would become a government report.
”At the moment, it is still the panel’s document,” she said.
She hoped that all interested parties would look at the report and submit their comments. — Sapa