Independent land audit dispels the myth that whites own 80% of the land
1 November 2017
An independent audit of landownership in South Africa, which has just been completed, dispels the populist myth that whites own eighty percent of the land, says Dr Pieter Groenewald, leader of the FF Plus.
The audit and analysis of landownership were conducted by Agri Development Solutions (ADS) in cooperation with Landbouweekblad, Landbou.com and Agri SA with the aim of shedding light on the issue of landownership from 1994 to 2016 by using data from the national deeds office.
According to Dr Groenewald, the most significant finding is that commercial agricultural land (excluding the homelands) owned by white farmers decreased from 67% of the total surface area of South Africa in 1993 to 55% in 2016.
By last year, people of colour owned nearly a third of the agricultural land value in the country and almost half of all the high-potential agricultural land (46,5%).