NW and national govts have failed at having an efficient land reform programme - Ventersdorp DA

VENTERSDORP - The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Ventersdorp said that the provincial and national government had failed to execute an efficient land reform programme. 
 
The issue of land will once again be on many political parties' manifestos as they bring forward their own ideas of how to correct the country’s past injustices of apartheid and colonialism. 
 
Hans-Jurie Moolman is the DA caucus leader in the JB Marks Municipality – he’s also a practicing attorney specialising in land disputes. 
 
Moolman said that beneficiaries of land reform, especially black farmers, had failed because they were not given tools on how to make their lands profitable.  
 
"When access to land is given to persons that those persons are developed into successful farmers who will not become dependent on the state to recapitalise every two or three years but who are actually expanding and capable of acquiring more and more land."
 
Moolman said that the release of land for residential purposes has also been done clumsily by government, as those settlements did not receive proper service delivery. 
 
He said people moving into Ventersdorp for better economic opportunities had caused overpopulation in the area. 
 
"People are settled on vacant land without access to basic services such as sanitation, water and electricity. There have been judgments in our courts where the whole issue of these services have been equated to human dignity."

As the sixth administration winds to an end, the Land Expropriation Bill remains a pending issue, which government says it hopes to finalise before the country votes.