1. Introduction

Chairperson, Mr N. Masithela and Honorable members of the Committee on Land and Agriculture, distinguished Members of different political parties, Our respected traditional leaders, and all members of the Public, all protocol observed. We thank you for the opportunity given to us to present, hoping that our comments will help deliberate a way forward on this challenging task of land reform.

Land reform is an essential part of the process of transformation and democratization in South Africa, for a number of reasons. Firstly, it addresses the need for restorative justice, by returning to people the land that was taken from their ancestors, both in the distant past and within living memory. Secondly, by redistributing assets to a wider class of owners, it unlocks productive capacity and contributes to the economic development of the country. Thirdly, it offers a way out of poverty for large number of the rural poor through meeting basic food needs and boosting cash incomes.

While land reform alone cannot resolve the deep-rooted problems of rural poverty, inequality and underdevelopment, it can, in combination with a wider Programme of investment in the rural poor. Land reform is not only a material matter, and therefore, should not be seen as a poverty relief Programme to the public, it should be seen as addressing the restoration of dignity to historically oppressed communities, and reversing the skewed patterns of land ownership in south Africa. The combination of material and symbolic factors are what makes land reform such a fundamental issue, and one for which there is widespread political support among the rural population.

The continued political, economic and social control of the countryside by a small white majority needs to be addressed as a matter for urgency. The consequences of not redistributing land results in evictions and victimization may have dire consequences as the patience of poor, landless people is tested. The issue of restorative justice with regard to land is increasingly absent from any discussion on land, in favor for purely economic arguments for land reform. These economic arguments moreover increasingly focus on building a class of poverty and growth, the current distribution of land means that such assets are severely unequally shared.

3. Land reform in South Africa

The History of Land Reform in South Africa relates the timeline of the dispossession which happened prior 1913 cut of date, is a evidence enough that the framework in which we are operating under, does not enable the good intentions of our Government to address the skewed patterns of land ownership in this country. Land reform in South Africa is usually divided into three components: restitution, or land claims, redistribution, and tenure reform. I wish to report to this house that even though my speech is going to highlight challenges, There are successful cases which was achieved, under this difficult circumstances and I wish to congratulate the DLA and the Restitution commission for that.

Restitution: Shortly, The 1913 cut of date, followed by the 1998 moratorium limits the dispossessed communities to get redress through the restitution of land rights act no. 22 of 1994. The market based approach, willing seller willing buyer clause and the property clause further inhibits the process as it concentrates on protecting and entrenching existing rights versus restoration of the rights to the rightful people. Restitution claims on privately owned farm land and where claimants demand the restoration of land versus financial compensation, has been put to the back of the queue waiting for the owners strong willingness to sell.

Market related costing has so far applied to the land owners and claimants who choose financial compensation has been paid flat rate, and not market prices, and this promotes patterns of class and colour, which is some form of racial and class separation.

Redistribution: Amongst these three leg, redistribution is the most important in terms of transforming the highly unequal pattern of land-holding in the country, but both restitution and tenure reform are also important in terms of restoring historical rights to land and securing existing, informal, rights.

Tenure reform Most rural communities are living in a state land, with no formally recognized tenure rights. Although there is still a lot to be done in effecting and enforcing tenure reform in South Africa, we welcome the Communal Land Rights Act, hoping that it will divest government of its current concerns that it will secure the land rights of those occupying and using the communal areas. The former "homelands" comprise 13% of South Africa’s land surface and accommodate about one third of the population. Yet, the land rights of people living in these areas are not secure. The Communal Land Rights Act has been enacted to address tenure arrangements in these areas.

To date, Market Based Land Reform has succeeded in transferring approximately 3% of land in 10 years, This is against the 1994 election manifesto. A fundamental redistribution, 30% of agricultural land in 5 years, was the proposed target of the Reconstruction and Development Programme in 1994. This target shifted in the year 2000 to the redistribution of 30% of agricultural land in 15 years. The table below gives an indication of the scorecard in this regard.

The allocations of the national budget to land reform are as follows:

It is quite clear from these two tables that land reform is not a government priority in South Africa. Recent events in Zimbabwe, arising out of twenty years of stalled land reform, have not led to any significant shift in the allocation of resources or the general direction of land reform in South Africa Indeed, the official emphases on the creation of a small class of black commercial farmers, and the neglect of the very poor who require land for household consumption purposes, is greater than at any time since 1994.

1. Inadequate Budgeting and spending.

The above extended target of delivery, that is 30% over 15 years, will require more than a tripling the current land reform budget and greatly improving capacity in the Department to accelerate the pace of delivery. If you look at the total claims under restitution only, to meet the 2005 presidential deadline, the commission will need approximately 14 billion rand. This would be one way of creating enabling environment for the implementers, Commission to meet the Presidential directive.

The other fact is the bureaucratic processes involved which does not empower provincial departments to finalise the deals. This has resulted in under spending in so much that even well intended land owners have pulled from land reform due to excessive bureaucratic delays.

3. Limited state involvement

Current land redistribution policy is based on a very narrow conception of market-assisted reform, the so-called willing-buyer, and willing-seller approach. Groups or individuals of landless people are required to identify their needs, identify and negotiate with a willing landowner on the price of the land, clarify their development strategies and implement these. The role of government in this process has been reduced to a distant manager of consultants, and the provision of funds for the land transaction. At the same time, it has resulted in current landowners determining the pace and nature of land reform in many areas and the price of land becoming a severe constant on the possibilities for land reform, excluding the possibility of using the provision in the Constitution which enables government to expropriate land in the public interest.

A broader, more comprehensive Programme, which involves a systematic identification of land needs and possibilities with the associated comprehensive and planned support, is completely absent in the current policy.

4. Farm Dweller issues not adequately addressed by the current policies.

On commercial farms, the Extension of Security of Tenure Act (ESTA) has little success in preventing illegal evictions. While the Act make it more difficult to evict common. ESTA allows farm dwellers to apply for on-farm or off-farm developments (for example, housing) and grants the Minister of Land Affairs powers developments to expropriate land for such development, but neither of these measures has been widely used to date. Where grants have been provided, it has usually involved people moving off farms and into township rather than granting farm residents agricultural land of their own or secure accommodation on farms where they work. A separate category of farm dweller, the labour tenants of Kwazulu-Natal and Mpumalanga, have been grantee the legal right to obtain ownership of the land they occupy under the Land Reform (Labour Tenants) Act, but implementation of this Act has been extremely slow and evictions of labour tenants arte rife.

5. Lack of cohesive Post Settlement and Development strategy on land, water and Agriculture

Although beneficiaries are in theory free to design their own land use plans, in practice, they are obliged to comply with a range of bureaucratic regulations to access their grant. These include restriction and imposition of the dominant paradigm of development, types of agricultural activities etc.

Firstly, the current restitution projects are not well considered to address the population growth as well as to enable claimants to utilize land as effectively as the former owners where. In many cases claimants has to compromise production land for residential purposes which compromises production rate. A community of approximately 300 households is expected to make a living in a size of land which was used by one family.

Secondly, the programmes of the Department of Land Affairs, national and provincial Department of Agriculture and Water Affairs and Forestry on particular are not well aligned – each department has its own line function and sticks to it, with little reference to the others.

Access to support services for business and other institutional development, other extension services, and access to resources for infrastructure and for production resources as well as access to credit are key components to successful land and rural development but in South Africa has one of the least supported agricultural sectors in the world. New entrants to the agricultural sector, or small producers wishing to expand, require a range of support services, some of which can be accessed through the private sector need to be found to provide resource-poor rural people with access to land, water, support services and access to markets in a coordinated manner that over time will lift people out of poverty.

Currently, Policy is being formulated on Gender policy, HIV Aids policy, amalgamation of the Labour Tenants Act and the Extension of Security of Tenure Act. All of these policies are, however, being undertaken in a very closed, un-participatory manner with no or very little consultation with either the potential beneficiaries of such programmes (as to what it is they really want), other agencies within civil society, or other government departments and spheres of government (the CLRA is a slight exception where various stakeholders where drawn in to the consultation). These other stakeholders are only approached about such policy formulation when it is finalized or at a very principles underpinning current land reform policy, and to include all stakeholders in ongoing policy review.

7. Need for a fundamental reassessment of the land reform Programme-towards a Land and Rural Development Summit

Land reform and the associated rural development strategy are in crisis. Government has increasingly opted to go it alone but has been unable to provide leadership or an answer to this crisis as the figures above and the lack of integrated implementation shows. A joint commitment to finding a solution to this crisis is needed.

Such a commitment will require extended dialogue between key stakeholders, principally the state, current landowners and the landless, there is a clear responsibility on the democratic government to engage in such a process not as an ‘honest broker’ but on behalf of, and in partnership with, the potential beneficiaries of land reform.

A land summit with all stakeholders is necessary in South Africa. Government and civil society must jointly host this summit. The Summit could comprise the following components.

• A thorough evaluation of the current Programme – Civil society organizations are currently undertaking an intensive assessment of Programme to date. This and other research could form the basis of an evaluation and the redesign of land reform in South Africa.
• The development of detailed new approaches to a more extensive, comprehensive land reform and rural development strategy including issues such as the HIV/Aids pandemic and the access by women.
• The commitment of increased resources to land reform and rural development.
• Clarification of the role of the different stakeholders.
• The commitment to participatory approaches to future policy formulation.
• A commitment by exiting landowners to release substantial areas of land, in areas of high demand, at below market prices, for redistribution to the poor and landless.
• A commitment by the state to ensure that both land and comprehensive support services are available to those in need.

7. Summary of Recommendations?

Land Access Movement of South Africa wishes to make the following recommendations to this hearing.

• A land summit with all stakeholders and Agreement to Fundamental review of existing land reform policy, especially
1. Property Clause and the willing seller willing buyer clause which tends to limit the state’s capacity to expropriate land.
2. Tenure reform laws, especially those dealing with Farm Dwellers and Communal areas
• Commitment by the state to provide adequate budgets and other resources for a large-scale redistribution of land and protection of land rights, as well as address provincial needs.
• An integrated approach to land and agrarian reform, across all spheres of government, that priorities the food and livelihood needs of the rural poor
• Adequate attention to the needs of marginalized groups. Including women, the unemployed and people living with HIV/AIDS
• Continuous consultation with civil society on all aspects of land and agrarian policy
• Commitment by all stakeholders to coordinate a Land and Rural Development Summit leading to a negotiated redistribution of land to the poor and landless.
• We demand a moratorium on eviction of Farm Dwellers
• Immediate halt on the sale and lease of large hectares of land to foreigners.