Conference to unpack land reform

WHEN land expropriation without compensation was brought to the table in South Africa, questions around whether the act would negatively impact landowners circulated.

Academics and activist who have studied the possible impacts of land expropriation now hope to address these uncertainties at a National Land Reform Colloquium.

The National Research Foundation (NRF) Chair in Land Reform and Democracy in SA, and the Centre for African Studies at UCT’s Faculty of Humanities will host the colloquium today.

“When I listen to the radio and TV, I can hear people are confused. Since it (land reforms without compensation) became a public issue, confusion came about. When people wanted detail, they were told detail will come later…

“As people who have been trying to understand this process… we can share our understanding. The issue is which land will be expropriated,” said NRF chairperson in land reform and democracy Lungisile Ntsebeza.

Ntsebeza said the land reform programme had so far been a dismal failure, despite the promise that 30% of agricultural land would be transferred to black people by 1999. Ntsebeza said less than 1% of land exchanged hands by that year, which prompted then president Thabo Mbeki to revise the date to 2014.

However, at the beginning of 2018 only 8% of the land was transferred to black ownership. Ntsebeza said it’s not possible to expropriate land without compensation under the current constitution, which means the constitution will have to be amended, for the bill to work.

Ntsebeza said the conference would be led by retired Justice Albie Sachs, who helped draft Section 25 of the constitution. Three panel discussions would take place with members which include the Centre for Constitutional Rights director advocate Thembeka Ngcukaitobi and Constitutional Litigation Unit attorney, Wilmien Wicomb.