Nkwinti must go back to the drawing board

South Africa needs an effective, forward-looking strategy on land reform. The Green Paper cannot be the basis for such a strategy. 

Tomorrow, the Democratic Alliance will officially make its submission on the Land Reform Green Paper. In it, we argue that the policy direction it advocates will serve to undermine the objective of sustainable land reform that is so necessary to redress the legacy of apartheid.

The policy is so lacking in substance, that little of it can be salvaged. The hard truth is that Minister Gugile Nkwinti must go back to the drawing board if he wants to succeed where his predecessors have failed.

Our submission questions the constitutionality of the institutional arrangements outlined in the Green Paper, including the proposed Land Management Commission and the Land Value-General. It also asks whether there is a even a need for a Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, since the Green Paper devolves so many of its functions to various committees and new structures.

Of even more significance is what is not covered in the Green Paper. It leaves open important questions that must be resolved if we are going to make progress with land reform, such as: 

• What is the government's strategy for the restructuring of communal land rights?
• What will the department do to ensure effective support to land reform beneficiaries?
• What will be the role of state and public land in an integrated land reform model and when will a state land audit be completed?
• Why is government advocating the regulation of land ownership by foreign nationals?
• What will be the nature of proposed limitation on privately owned land?
• What are the specific proposals around the "willing buyer, willing seller" model? 
• How will the absence of a clear protocol for the identification of land reform beneficiaries be addressed?
• What will be done to improve the performance and capacity of the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform?
• How will the government respond to the demand for residential land by a rapidly urbanising society? 
• Has there been any analysis of the successes and failures of the international experiences with land reform cited in the Green Paper and how will these inform South Africa's process?

We urge the Department to involve experts, civil society and all relevant stakeholders in the development of a comprehensive strategy for land reform in South Africa. The six working groups constituted by the Department to consider different aspects of the Green Paper cannot serve this function, as its mandate is apparently to discuss reforms within the ambit of the Green Paper, rather than fundamentally reshaping the government's approach to the land challenge.

This is a golden opportunity to get our land reform strategy right once and for all. Government must dispense with the dogma and focus on innovative, sustainable and practical solutions to assist those who were denied access to land in the past. 

Statement issued by Annette Steyn MP, DA Shadow Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, December 11 2011

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