Govt to step-up land delivery

2004-11-30 20:28

Pretoria - The government intends to re-distribute 1.87 million hectares of land a year in order to meet its 2014 target, the department of land affairs said in Pretoria on Tuesday.

This is five times more than the current transfer rate of 350 000ha a year.

Deputy director-general Nozizwe Makgalemele said 22 million hectares of agricultural land had to be transferred by 2014 in order to meet the presidential directive that 30% of commercial agricultural land was to be held by formerly disadvantaged groups.

The department said this rate would be achieved through increased funding that had been made available through "additional agricultural support funds."

Mayende said: "We still have 20.6 million hectares to deliver."

Land dispossession since 1913

She insisted that this would be done with sustainable development in mind.

The government's redistribution programme has three pillars:

redistribution;

restitution which, addresses land dispossession since 1913 and

tenure reform intended to ensure legally secure land for all.

Mayende said that since 1994, 23% of land had been delivered through restitution, 50% through various forms of redistribution and five percent through the tenure system.

She said, 22% of state-owned land had also been re-allocated.

State domestic purposes

"But contrary to a widely held view, there is not much state land available for land reform purposes, especially for redistribution," she said.

She explained that while the state held 20.3% of the total area of South Africa, only between five and seven percent was available for land reform. The rest, she said, was used for state domestic purposes.

Mayende said that many challenges lay ahead which included the high cost of land and some unco-operative sellers.

She said"But, we must admit there are some sellers who have been very helpful."

- SAPA