R2bn set aside to settle 1 151 land claims this year – minister

The government plans to settle 1 151 land claims at a cost of R2 billion this financial year, Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said in her budget policy speech yesterday.

“We will also prioritise post-settlement support on restituted farms and R700 million has been set aside for this,” she said.

This would be accompanied by greater efforts to remove the barriers to new black land owners from becoming successful farmers. “In this financial year, we will pursue aggressively the strengthening of integrated development to ensure land access yields broader economic spin-offs. To support black farmers, preferential allocation of water rights, infrastructure provision and access to markets will be intensified. These gaps must be closed.”

The budget policy speech comes amid contestation of the ANC government’s plan to amend the constitution to allow expropriation without compensation.

She deplored the slow pace of land restitution since 1994, saying that although the private land audit was in an early phase, it had to recognise black South Africans still only owned 4% of the land.

“However, we must accept that even without the finer details that will come forth from this phase of the audit, since 1995 only 2% of 82 million hectares of agricultural land has been redistributed.”

She said the spate of land occupations was a sign of frustration at exclusion from land ownership and that inflated prices hindered the predistribution process.

This drew an objection from Freedom Front Plus MP Pieter Groenewald. He said the vast majority of beneficiaries of land restitution opted for cash payouts, which meant the state paid double in these cases. “In 93% of cases, the beneficiaries did not want the land, they wanted the money. The government buys the land and then has to take another R5 million to pay beneficiaries. This is taxpayers’ money,” he said. “That is the distortion of prices.”

He asked why the state did not transfer the 4 000 farms it owned to would-be farmers. “You exploit the feelings of the people to conceal your incompetence. You mislead the people when you say expropriation without compensation will speed up land reform.” – ANA