Bill tabled to speed up land reform
MINISTER of Rural Development and Land Reform Gugile Nkwinti has tabled the Electronic Deeds Registration Systems Bill to fast-track 20 million land parcels as part of the government’s land reform programme.
The tabling of the bill in Parliament comes as the ANC begins its conference in Nasrec tomorrow.
Land reform is at the centre of the government’s five priorities since the 2007 ANC Polokwane conference.
The ANC is set to endorse some of the proposals from the policy conference held in June.
A few months ago, Nkwinti announced the tabling of the Communal Land Tenure Bill, the Regulation of Agricultural Land Holdings Bill, the Extension of Security of Tenure Amendment Bill and the Land Valuations Regulations under the Property Valuation Association Act.
In the Electronic Deeds Registration Systems Bill, the government wants to move away from processing deeds manually to an electronic system to speed up the process.
The bill states that “the inability of the present registration infrastructure and resources to accommodate the increase in volume in respect of an anticipated 20 million land parcels of the government’s land reform measures” is one of the problems that warrant its introduction.
The bill will facilitate the establishment of an electronic deeds registration system that can register large volumes of deeds.
The ANC has over the past 10 years asked for the fast-tracking of the programme.
Nkwinti recently proposed that the Chief Land Claims Commissioner be re-designed and turned into a Chapter 9 institution.
The government was recently forced to halt the process to lodge new land claims after the Constitutional Court found that the Restitution of Land Rights Amendment Bill was flawed.
The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform had found that new land claims would cost between R129 billion and R179bn.
This was based on its research, which projected that about 400 000 new land claims would be lodged in the new window period.
By the time the court halted the process in July last year, more than 120 000 new land claims had been lodged.
Parliament has until July next year to amend the bill as directed by the court.