Reform of Land Ownership is long Overdue in South Africa
SA needs a robust and balanced debate around land reform, says Neil Gopal, CEO of South African Property Owners Association (SAPOA).
Radical land reform in South Africa will radically eliminate the legacy of apartheid, hence improving land governance is vital for achieving rapid economic growth and translating it into significantly less poverty and more opportunity for South Africans.
Land ownership is a sensitive issue in South Africa and has been brought into focus by the decline in agriculture in neighbouring Zimbabwe.
The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, in partnership with the Gauteng Provincial Government, hosted the 1913 Natives’ Land Act Exhibition at the Nasrec Expo Centre near Soweto earlier this month.
The Director-General at the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, Mduduzi Shabane, said the exhibition was aimed at creating awareness, especially among the youth, about the journey travelled thus far and the progress made by the government of the day towards reversing the negative legacy of the 1913 Natives’ Land Act and related racially motivated laws.
Land reform in South Africa needs to be addressed, but it shouldn’t come at the cost of food security or by breaking up economically efficient enterprises. So says the South African Property Owners Association (SAPOA), whose members comprise 90% of the commercial property sector in South Africa.
Neil Gopal, CEO of SAPOA, says: “We need robust and balanced debate around land reform. The fact that only 13% of land in South Africa is owned by black people must be addressed. Only visionary policies and laws will effectively address the societal, economic and political effects of the 1913 Natives Land Act.”
But, changing land ownership rights in South Africa also impacts the need to ensure food security.
“South Africa must adopt a process to increase land ownership by the formerly disenfranchised that continues to support food security with effective agricultural structures,” says Gopal.
SAPOA’s stance on the issue would see formalised property rights necessary for economic success in context of increased globalisation. This would be supported by government-implemented land reform which also trains and guides beneficiaries in social and economic participation during a transition period.
“Fair and transparent validation of historic property rights is fundamental to land reform,” says Gopal.
But, crop-producing land must be treated sensitively. Only 12% of South Africa’s surface area can be used for crop production and high-potential arable land comprises a mere 22% of this. So, breaking up commercially efficient enterprises for land reform poses a danger to food security.
“It isn’t enough to simply maintain social and political stability. We rather need to create substantive economic change. Equally important to formalising land ownership is progressively and positively changing the wealth and income distribution of the South African populace,” notes Gopal.
SAPOA puts forward that different laws and policies could act as a cohesive, effective foundation to ensure a sustainable land reform process. These include the Expropriation of Property, Restitution of Land Rights Amendment, Property Valuations Bills and Preservation and Preservation of Agricultural Land Policy, among others. But, as bills that will define the social, economic and political stability, or instability, of South Africa, these land reform bills shouldn’t be ‘rushed through’ and must be thoroughly debated first, to ensure legal, social, economic and political validity.
“We have to deal with practical realities. Those realities are that land ownership cannot continue to be left unaddressed. However, the redress of land ownership should be balanced against other rights,” says Gopal. “Working together, government, business and society need to ensure that South Africa has a sustainable post-reform land tenure system - a system that will ultimately lead to alleviation of poverty and to protection of food security.”
