ANC corruption hampering Land Reform, not the Constitution

28 February 2017

Madame Speaker, Fellow South Africans,

To the majority of our people, the ownership of land is seen as an inherently personal right that was violated by the apartheid Natives Land Act of 1913.

Land tenure is inextricably linked to an individual’s identity, dignity and a sense of belonging. Millions of our people do not feel this sense of belonging as land reform post-1994 has been an unmitigated disaster. The key objectives of land reform were supposed to have been:-

- to address dispossession and injustice

- to create more equitable distribution of land

- to reduce poverty and stimulate economic growth

- to provide security of tenure

All of which the ANC government has failed to achieve despite the availability of a litany of legislation and grant programmes. Land reform has fallen victim to political manipulation by the ruling ANC elite, compounded by its own hubris and insularity. The ANC government now seeks to use the Constitution as an excuse, presenting it as a barrier to effective land reform and thus deflecting the responsibility for their failures. Fellow South Africans, let us not be hoodwinked into accepting this red herring.

The ANC government now seeks to use the Constitution as an excuse, presenting it as a barrier to effective land reform and thus deflecting the responsibility for their failures. Fellow South Africans, let us not be hoodwinked into accepting this red herring.

The ANC government now seeks to use the Constitution as an excuse, presenting it as a barrier to effective land reform and thus deflecting the responsibility for their failures. Fellow South Africans, let us not be hoodwinked into accepting this red herring.

Small scale farmers, labour tenants, farm workers, communal area residents, women and our youth, the lost generation, are the intended beneficiaries who have been most affected by the government's abysmal failure in the delivery of land reform.

Twenty-three (23) years into this democracy the land tenure rights of the rural poor are still not addressed. Security of tenure – preferably in the form of legal ownership - unlocks access to economic development and real jobs for the lost generation, especially in agriculture.

Former US President Bill Clinton said, and I quote “Work is about more than making a living, as vital as that is. It’s fundamental to human dignity, to a sense of self-worth as useful, independent, free people.” Close quote. With youth unemployment so high in SA do we not then owe it to this ‘lost generation’ to unlock the immense potential in successful land reform?

Instead of tampering with an excellent constitution a DA-led government will:-

- Enact legislation securing the property rights of those who live on state land, state-owned land reform projects and former homelands. The DA wants our poor to own their own property and not have their property controlled by Traditional Councils. This is the case for 4.5 million people living on the 2.8 million hectares of land owned by the KwaZulu-Natal Ingonyama Trust.

- Rezone communal land areas as municipalities so that our rural poor get the same service delivery and support as urban areas

- Provide an on-going package of extension services financial support networks, technical and managerial assistance as well as invest in supportive infrastructure, as seen in the Western Cape,

- Remove the vestiges of apartheid and colonial planning and the embedded semi-feudal systems it engendered in the former homelands – nowhere should paternalism obstruct progress

- Ensure that land reform is an opportunity around which SA’s can unite rather than a source of anxiety – land reform can attract massive investments to those who were marginalised.

Madame Speaker, Fellow South Africans, Section 25 of the Constitution is not a constraint to Land Reform, but the very backbone of successful land reform. The motion by the EFF to review and amend the property clause is not supported by the Democratic

The motion by the EFF to review and amend the property clause is not supported by the Democratic Alliance because we care about property rights for the poor.

Issued by Thandeka Mbabama, Deputy Shadow Minister for Rural Development and Land Reform, 28 February 2017