Land redistribution greater than we believe

IF THE response of the Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, to a question tabled by Freedom Front leader Dr Pieter Groenewald MP, was widely published, then distortion of the facts concerning land reform and ownership, which is serving to fuel emotions and populist agendas, would diminish.

Central to the debate on the issue is the claim that whites still own 72% of agricultural holdings and

that only 4% are in black hands.

But as an analysis in Politcsweb on January 8 points out, those statistics are disingenuous because of the context in which they are presented.

The contrast of 72% to 4% holdings refers to individually owned, non-urban classes of land.

As statistics they exclude all

state-owned land, community-held former homeland territory and land privately purchased by blacks through trusts, companies and close corporations. The minister’s response noted that 12.1million hectares had been transferred in terms of land restitution – 3.5million directly to beneficiaries; 2.9 million concerned those who opted for financial

compensation; 4.9million acquired by the government for distribution along with a further 822388ha.

What is missing from that statement is that, at the outset, the ANC inherited 16millionha of the former homeland territories.

Thus, the extent of land restitution and redistribution between 1994 and 2017, although pedestrian-paced, is actually greater than what is commonly believed.

DUNCAN DU BOIS | Bluff