Measures to curb or control foreign ownership of land in South Africa are proposed in a government-commissioned report, a copy of which was obtained on Monday.
A panel of experts call in the document for a two-year moratorium on foreign ownership of land.
In addition, the land affairs minister should impose a qualified prohibition on such ownership, says the report.
It was commissioned by Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister Lulu Xingwana.
The report was scheduled to be released by Xingwana at a news conference on Monday morning, but the event was cancelled. Copies of the document were leaked to some reporters later in the day.
The panel, chaired by Shadrack Gutto, recommended the possible outright prohibition on foreign ownership of South African land.
Temporary moratorium
On the grounds of national interests, environmental considerations, areas of historical and cultural significance, and national security, the private ownership of land by foreigners and certain South Africans should be prohibited, the report said.
The prohibited areas should include National Key Points, coastal areas, conservation areas, land close to military installations, water catchment areas and land along borders and international boundaries.
The report also recommends a limited temporary moratorium of approximately two years prohibiting the disposal of state land to foreigners and SA citizens ”who do not qualify for redress under the national land reform policies and legislation.
”This is not a blanket prohibition. It is meant to prevent certain spheres of government and organs of state from disposing of land that may be used for land reform and human settlements for the dispossessed and marginalised individuals and communities.”
The panels said special exemptions should be considered and the moratorium lifted when the land ownership ideals in South Africa were put into place.
The report also recommended special ministerial approval to be introduced in cases when foreign ownership of land could ”negatively impact on the state’s constitutional obligations to effect land reform and achieve realisation of access to adequate housing”.
The compulsory disclosure of nationality, race and gender among foreign and other property owners is also one of the panel’s recommendations.
The object of this regulation would be ”for disclosure and statistical purposes and not for effecting any unfair discrimination”, the report said.
In the report, private ownership of land by foreigners, and in some cases South African citizens, in certain areas is said to have become an ”intervening” but not yet clearly known factor in constitutional land rights.
”Ordinary citizens, both black and white, feel very strongly that acquisition of prime land by foreigners is denying them affordable access to land and rendering them strangers in their own country,” the report said.
Foreigners own around 3% of residential, agricultural and farm land and sectional titles in South Africa. – Sapa