Funding problems hinder the payment of land claims

THE CALL by President Jacob Zuma for the fast-tracking of the land reform programme in the country faces serious challenges in the midst of funding problems and the slow pace of processing land claims.

The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform said yesterday it had received tens of thousands of new claims, but the funding issue had not been settled.

Zuma told thousands of ANC members at the January 8 statement rally in Rustenburg at the weekend that the land question must be resolved.

He called for the government to fast-track this programme.

The government approved the Restitution of Land Rights Amendment Bill, which was passed by Parliament in early 2014.

Zuma signed this bill into law in June 2014, paving the way for the reopening of new land claims.

“As at December 3, 2015, 119 097 new land claims have been lodged, since the reopening of land claims on July 1, 2014,” said the department.

However, the department has to deal with the backlog of claims lodged before the December 1998 deadline.

“As at September 30, 2015 there were 7 851 land claims lodged not later than December 31, 1998 that were outstanding,” it said.

Parliament had urged the department to clear these cases first before it could start processing new land claims.

Three years ago, the National Assembly’s portfolio committee on rural development and land reform said that if this could be done urgently, it would ease the pressure on the department.

The department also said it was working on this as a matter of urgency.

In a study done by the department in 2013 it was discovered that it would need between R129 billion and R179bn to deal with the expected 400 000 new claims.

A total of 119 097 new land claims had been lodged by the end last year.

This is a massive increase from the 36 000 new claims lodged by the end of November 2014.

The swelling of the number of new claims does not match the budget of the department.

The budget was sitting at R9.5bn, and there is no indication it will grow significantly.

The claimants have until 2019 to lodge their new claims.

Zuma has been pushing for the fast-tracking of the land reform programme since his first term as president began in 2009.

During the five years of his first term, Zuma stressed the reopening of new land claims.

The ANC at its Mangaung conference in 2012 approved the reopening process, paving the way for the introduction of the Restitution of Land Rights Amendment Bill in Parliament in 2013.

In his second term as president, Zuma has used the January 8 statement to push for the speeding up of this process.

He has called for the restoration of land rights to those who had their land taken away from them.

Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti has complained that more people prefer taking cash than getting their land back.

During the first phase of the land claims process, which had a deadline of December 1998, the government spent R18bn on more than 70 000 claims.