Minister mulls land claims

Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti plans to ask the Cabinet to permit more land claims by black South Africans who lost their property before 1913.

Legislation providing for land claims, which has cost the fiscus billions of rand, had as a cut-off date for restitution the promulgation of the 1913 Land Act, which removed the right of black South Africans to own land in more than 80 percent of the country.

The procedurally complex claims process is administered by the Land Claims Commission, which has battled for years to verify the authenticity of claims.

It has largely benefited those forcefully removed by apartheid laws from urban areas, rather than rural communities, and stunted investment in agricultural development due to fear of land being expropriated by the state.

The restitution of claimants is a separate programme from the government’s drive to redistribute farmland to black South Africans through the "willing seller, willing buyer" policy.

On Monday, Mr Nkwinti handed over cheques totalling R16-million to beneficiaries of the Kenton-on-Sea land claim, midway between Port Elizabeth and East London in the Eastern Cape. He told the beneficiaries pressure had been mounting from communities for his department to reopen the claims process.

Mr Nkwinti said a national restitution workshop held at the weekend had heard a similar appeal. Mtobeli Mxotwa, spokesperson for Mr Nkwinti, said if land claims were reopened, they could be extended to periods before 1913 and might require a further three years to finalise.

Mr Nkwinti said the research by his department on the land claims process has shown that it "was poorly done" and that "the land claim period of three years was too short".

Several potential claimants had complained that they were not aware of the process. The Land Claims Commission invited claims from dispossessed individuals and communities from 1995 until December 1998. The closing date for claims was extended twice and there were nationwide campaigns to educate potential beneficiaries about the process.

Dirk Kotze, political studies lecturer at the University of SA, described the reopening of claims as "ill-advised" and unlikely to achieve much in terms of land distribution and the government’s efforts to increase black land ownership. Prof Kotze said it was interesting that the matter was raised just weeks before the local government elections.

"It could resonate with voters and gain the ANC some popularity; however, the reopening will also require a revisit and an amendment to the constitution and relevant regulations," he said. Prof Kotze said the land claims process had done little to return land to blacks because most claimants were city dwellers forcefully removed under the Group Areas Act, among other apartheid policies.

Most had opted for cash restitution and this had not helped the government achieve its plans of returning at least 30 percent of land to previously dispossessed and disadvantaged people. Prof Kotze said the government could empower more people much faster if it focused on acquiring land through its new land reform laws and if it vigorously pursued its land distribution and restitution policy rather than using land claims procedures.

African National Congress (ANC) spokesman Jackson Mthembu said yesterday that, although he was unaware of Mr Nkwinti’s undertaking to ask the Cabinet to consider reopening the claims process, this was not a change of policy. He said the party had been examining how it could encourage the government to adopt effective ways of speeding up land reform while ensuring land restitution continued.

"There is nothing wrong in assessing whether earlier deadlines were fair and whether they denied deserving communities their right to be offered redress for land they lost," Mr Mthembu said. He said it was important to review programmes and help the government decide whether they had been effective. He believed that if claims were reopened, there would be sufficient resources to fund the programme.

The Land Claims Commission has settled 74808 out of 79 696 claims and the government’s 2005 deadline to resolve outstanding claims was extended to this year. If the Cabinet agreed to reopen claims, Mr Nkwinti would have to pilot an amendment to the Land Restitution Act through Parliament.

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