‘Land reform is an impediment’
MOTLANTHE: STATE MUST EXERCISE ITS AUTHORITY
No leadership about what should be done to resolve land question, says prof.
Ngcukaitobi said institutional bodies dealing with land reform must be restructured and change their focus from restitution to redistribution.
Expropriation of land without compensation will only give government more power, while it has failed so far to even effectively use the power it already has, he says.
Former president Kgalema Motlanthe says the constitution gives citizens three rights with regard to land: equal access, security of tenure and restitution.
But progress in realising these rights has been slow, he says.
Motlanthe says there is no constitutional impediment to expropriation without compensation and therefore, government should pass legislation explicitly stating that it has such power.
There should be as much focus on urban areas as on rural areas in addressing the land question and the emphasis should be on giving people easier access to their workplaces.
Motlanthe added there is no security of tenure in townships, which limits residents’ access to finance. Those residents should be given title deeds. Government should pass a law of general application that recognises land ownership and occupation.
He says land reform is currently considered in macro terms and there is fear and uncertainty about it in all sectors. It should rather be approached in a systematic manner.
Professor Peter Delius, a historian at Wits University who wrote Rights to Land: A Guide to Tenure Upgrading and Restitution in South Africa, said that at the current pace, it would take 143 years and cost R600 billion to settle the outstanding land claims.
He said the current process had become an obstacle to land reform and there was no apparent leadership about what should be done to resolve the land question.
A lot of what has been done was outside of the legal framework and open to legal challenge, Delius said.