Land and housing activists call for fair and equal distribution of land in SA
A debate on whether the newly signed Land Expropriation Act can be used as a tool to achieve land justice was held at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) on Tuesday.
Minister of Land Reform and Rural Development Mashable Nyhontsho addresses a discussion on land inequality and expropriation at the University of the Western Cape on 11 March 2025. Picture: Kayleen Morgan/EWN
CAPE TOWN - Land and housing activists have called for the fair and equal redistribution of land in South Africa.
A debate on whether the newly signed Land Expropriation Act can be used as a tool to achieve land justice was held at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) on Tuesday.
Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Mzwanele Nyhontso was there and took part in the debate.
READ: Mashatile tells MPs government committed to land expropriation
The legislation, which sets out the process for the government to acquire land for public purposes, has been met with resistance by some political parties and Afrikaner civil society groups.
Elderly farmworker, Bettie Fortuin, said she had been working and living on a farm in De Doorns for more than 50 years with no land of her own.
Fortuin said she hopes the Expropriation Act can also benefit women and men like her who live in houses owned by farm owners.
"There’s a slogan that says the land shall belong to those who work the land. I was 13 years old when I started working on the land and I’m over 60 years old now, but I still don’t have land."
Land and housing activists gathered here also wish for the Land Expropriation Act to prioritise marginalised people the most.