President Zuma must explain his criticism of willing buyer/willing seller

President Zuma must explain why he criticised the willing-buyer/willing-seller concept. According to AfriForum's spokesperson on economic affairs, Cornelius Jansen van Rensburg, Zuma's criticism of the market-related land reform process is unfounded and should be viewed as a direct and serious attack on land ownership.

During his opening address at the ANC's policy conference in Johannesburg, Zuma reiterated his stance that the state should be in charge of land valuations and that land issues should be dealt with by a land management commission. These proposals are already contained in the Green Paper on Land Reform.

The ANC continually claims that the willing-buyer/willing-seller approach is too slow and cumbersome, yet the corruption and incompetence of the Department of Land Reform is overlooked.

Several land claims are dragging on because the state simply does not want to bring them to a close. Moreover, numerous farmers have already provided land for land restitution, but without success. ‘The ANC is gambling with the land's stability by promising land to poor communities, while the party's objective is for all land to be state owned,' Jansen van Rensburg said.

The Green Paper, which, among other things, proposes the abolition of the willing-buyer/willing-seller principle, could also have political repercussions and could undermine South Africa's property market and economy.

Statement issued by Cornelius Jansen van Rensburg, Spokesperson on economic affairs: AfriForum, June 27 2012

Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter