President Jacob Zuma is being ”misled” by the incompetence of government officials into believing the willing-buyer, willing-seller principle is stalling land reform, the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) said on Tuesday.
”President Jacob Zuma is being misled as if the willing-buyer, willing-seller principle is the actual problem of land reform.
”The real problem is the incompetence of officials, who delay the administrative process for buyers and sellers,” FF+ agriculture and land spokesperson Pieter Groenewald said in a statement.
Zuma has said the government is seeking a more ”pragmatic” formula for land redistribution, and, to move forward decisively, ”significant changes will have to be made to the willing-buyer, willing-seller model”.
Groenewald said there was more than enough land being offered for sale at a reasonable price.
”But due to [the] administrative incompetence of the Department of Land Affairs, the sales have not been finalised.”
To ensure the success of land reform, the government should first redistribute existing unused state land. Thereafter, there should be proper control over existing land-reform projects.
Close to half the agricultural land-reform projects had failed.
”The willing-buyer, willing-seller principle is being abused to hide incompetence,” Groenewald said. — Sapa