Mashatile says Expropriation Act to be used to fast track land reform

Deputy President Paul Mashatile said on Thursday the Expropriation Act is going to help the government to fast track land reform and settle outstanding land claims.

Mashatile also said the Expropriation Act will ensure that those previously denied access to land and who had land taken away from them have access to land in a legal manner.

“This law is going to help us to ensure that we first track land reform, but we do it within the parameters of the constitution and the rule of law,” he said when asked a question in the National Council of Provinces.

ANC MP Mapule Dhlamini asked if the government has set a time frame for settling all claims.

Mashatile said the finalisation of outstanding land claims remained one of the key priorities of the government.

“Over successive years, we have made good progress regarding the settlement of land claims and returning the land to those who were previously dispossessed. However,  much more still needs to be done,” he said.

Asked by EFF MP Mandisa Makesini about the short to medium term plans to fast track the settlement of outstanding land claims and facilitate those claims that had been put on hold due to the court judgment known as the Land Access Movement of South Africa (Lamosa), Mashatile said the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights has developed a backlog reduction strategy to create a detailed database of all outstanding claims to be settled.

“The strategy focuses on improved policies and standard operating procedures to reduce the time it takes to settle land claims.”

He noted that the Lamosa judgment interdicted the processing of “new order claims” lodged between July 2014 and July 2016, until the commission settled all claims referred to it by the Land Claims Court and all claims lodged before the December 1, 1998 deadline.

Mashatile said the land commission has improved the speed of finalising all claims, but they were constrained by the lack of sufficient financial resources.

The National Treasury has indicated that the Department of Land Reform and Rural Development will expedite the finalisation of outstanding land claims.

“In terms of these projections, about R11,6 billion will be allocated over the medium term to settle about 844 land restitution claims with another R3 billion earmarked to allocate another 138,000 hectares of land to people.

“The Inter-Ministerial Committee on Land Reform and Agriculture will continue to coordinate and collaborate with key lead departments to improve the turnaround times and also our capacity to fast-track the settlement of land claims.”

But, Makesini noted with concern that there were still about 5,600 older claims that were still to be settled from 1998 and the commission has indicated that they are able to settle not more than 300 claims per year.

“If we do have any rethinking of a new approach that will make the process faster, what is your plan to make sure you increase the capacity because you cannot wait another 20 years to settle the one year backlog of 100,000?” Makesini asked.

In his response, Mashatile said the commission has introduced Project Kuyasa, which sought to come up with a strategy to reduce backlogs faster.

“They want to put in business processing and systems, come up with financial modeling that is going to be helpful, and so on.”

He said clearing the backlogs has taken long and the Land Reform and Rural Development Minister Mzwanele Nyhontso knew what was needed for it to be fast tracked.

“One of the challenges we face is sometimes the conflict that comes up with these projects. When we are about to redistribute land, sometimes we then get into difficulties of conflict amongst communities and members of particular households, and so on."

Mashatile also said there was need to ensure people resettled on restitution land, particularly farming land, had the capacity to till the land. 

mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za