Land reform: NEC lekgotla spells out priorities

A review of the 1961 State Land Disposal Act and 2007 Government Immovable Asset Management Act has been prioritised given the need to ‘streamline’ national land administration in the context of a more ‘effective land reform programme’. This was announced yesterday in a media statement on ‘one of the best’ ANC national executive committee lekgotlas ‘ever’ (EWN), notes Pam Saxby for Legalbrief Policy Watch. The committee also urged government to ‘finalise’ the ‘Communal Property Associations Amendment Act’ as a matter of priority – possibly referring to the 2017 amendment Bill, a ‘B’ version of which is still waiting to be signed into law having been passed by Parliament in December 2018. Among other things, the Bill provides for the ‘improved protection of the rights of communities in respect of movable and immovable property administered by an association’.

In view of government’s commitment to providing ‘improved post-settlement support’ for the beneficiaries of ‘restituted and redistributed land’ so that it is ‘brought to production’, the committee would also like to see the finalisation of an ‘agricultural sector master plan’ apparently already being prepared. Related to this, ‘the development of black farmers will be prioritised through training, capacity building, the provision of blended funding, revisiting share equity schemes and trade agreements with other countries’. ‘Special attention will be given to women and young people’, as indicated in a draft policy for selecting land allocation beneficiaries released recently for comment. In addition, government has been requested to prioritise the allocation of land to smallholders and subsistence farmers already working it – as well as to affected communities in ‘areas where there have been evictions’.

Regarding land restitution to ‘claimants who missed the 1998 cut-off’, the committee would like the ‘remaining communities’ prioritised and has called for ‘concerted efforts’ to be made to encourage claimants ‘to opt for land rather than financial compensation’. In urban areas, the focus will be on interventions to ‘deracialise … towns and cities and transform apartheid spatial patterns through measures such as the expropriation of well-located urban land and the targeting of derelict buildings’. Although the statement did not mention a spatial development framework released on Monday in draft form for comment, this is the most recent document to have been published on the issue. As Legalbrief Today has already reported, it lacks substance and is worryingly vague on practicalities – including funding. At this stage, it is not clear if, once finalised, it will replace the integrated urban development framework approved by Cabinet in 2016.