‘Accelerate title deed release’

CRONIN: PACE OF LAND REFORM SINCE 1994 ‘PATHETIC’

Leave constitution, ‘it provides mechanisms for land reform’.

Don’t amend Constitution as ‘it provides mechanisms for land reform’.

The government should not amend the Constitution to allow for the expropriation of land without compensation – instead, it should accelerate the release of title deeds and land redistribution to salvage land reform.

This is the view of Deputy Public Works Minister Jeremy Cronin, who also described SA’s pace and quality of land reform since 1994 as “pathetic”.

“There has been weak policy, corruption within the state, and lack of will when it comes to land reform,” Cronin said at the South African Property Owners Association annual convention yesterday.

SA is weighing up the merits of amending section 25 of the Constitution – also known as the property clause – to expropriate land without compensation.

After MPs voted in favour of a motion to begin a process to amend Section 25, the matter was sent to the Constitutional Review Committee, which will review whether it is necessary to amend the Constitution.

“The property clause is not an obstacle for effective land reform and land restitution. It already provides effective mechanisms to achieve land reform,” Cronin said.

His views contradict those held by some ANC and EFF members, who have called for the state to go to extreme lengths in expropriating land without compensation.

Instead of amending the Constitution, the focus should be on increasing security of tenure – in other words, fast-track the release of title deeds, he said. “Millions of South Africans have insecure tenure,” he said. “About 60% of South Africans do not have title deeds.”

Although the government has provided 3.8 million housing opportunities since 1994, many don’t have title deeds. The human settlements department had set a three-year target of fast-tracking the release of more than 800 000 title deeds by 2019.