DA submits Private Member's Bill on Communal Land Rights
The Democratic Alliance (DA) will today be submitting a Private Member's Bill on Communal Land Rights to the Speaker of the National Assembly. The objective of this Bill is to give people living on communally owned land in the former homelands full and unhindered individual ownership of their land.
People living in the former homelands make up half of South Africa's population. It is unacceptable that, in the seventeenth year of democracy, they are still waiting for their land rights to be made secure.
The inequities bequeathed by colonialism and Apartheid must be redressed to ensure a thriving rural economy that provides for job creation and economic growth.
We strongly believe that full individual ownership must be extended to ensure that people living on communally owned land are empowered to live unencumbered on their land and leverage it to improve their livelihoods. Without full individual property rights, residents on communally owned land cannot use their land as loan collateral, rent, or sell any portion of it to enjoy the full benefits of land ownership.
Land ownership has the potential to ensure the expansion and diversification of South Africa's commercial agriculture sector to increase productivity, create more rural jobs and promote food security.