Land reform
Western Cape DA plans to take on land reform minister for District 6 claimants
As part of the latest phase of claimants returning to their homes, 108 people were meant to be given their keys last year.
Thabo Mbeki may well belong to a generation that learnt to accept that as long as white people are alright, all is alright with the world, writes Yonela Diko.
African National Congress (ANC) deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte was on Tuesday delivering the outcomes of the party's three-day national executive committee (NEC) meeting.
President Cyril Ramaphosa again promised a presidential summit on land, which he mentioned in his address to the leaders last year.
Parliament’s ad hoc committee to amend the Constitution to explicitly allow for land expropriation without compensation met on Friday for the first time this year.
Land Reform Minister Thoko Didiza told MPs that the release of apartheid-era farms owned by the South African Development Trust would go a long way in addressing the imbalances of the past and addressing land reform.
Parliament now has to come up with what it wants in the amendment of land policies.
Another year has come to an end without the controversial policy on land expropriation without compensation being completed.
In his virtual Day of Reconciliation message, the president spoke out against corruption and called on businesses to reflect their support for transformation.
The proposed new law has a long history. The country has been trying for almost 12 years now to come up with expropriation legislation that is in line with the Constitution.
The new initiative reproduces the core weaknesses of post-apartheid state land and agricultural policy. These have done little to improve the livelihoods of the poor.
The law would allow land to be confiscated without compensation if its unused, abandoned, or poses a safety risk.
The coronavirus pandemic and lockdown had halted the process. Its term expired in May before it could complete its mandate.
The committee met for the first time since its reestablishment to discuss its programme for public hearings which start in October.
In the next two weeks, government will issue notices for the leasing of almost 900 state farms measuring about 700,000 hectares.
Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Thoko Didiza, said in the next two weeks, government would issue advertisement notices of 896 farms totalling 700,000 hectares of under-utilised or vacant state land.
Twenty-six years into democracy following the end of apartheid, land ownership remains a thorny issue in South Africa, which is one of the world’s most unequal countries, according to the World Bank.
The minister held a virtual dialogue on Monday with women in the sector who raised many issues centering around the lack of land.
Parliament has heard submissions from academics, people living on farms as well as organisations representing landless communities on the Upgrading of Land Tenure Rights Amendment Bill.