Land Reform: President Zuma should urgently clarify government's position

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is deeply concerned by reports that a farm between Qwaqwa and Harrismith in the Eastern Cape was illegally occupied last week- by a group alleging that ANC Youth League (ANCYL) President Julius Malema had given them permission to claim the land for themselves. This incident comes in the wake of calls made by Mr Malema at the recent ANCYL conference that land should be expropriated without compensation. 

It is not sufficient for President Jacob Zuma to simply state that land grabs are not ANC policy.  He should come forward as a matter of urgency, denounce the radical policies espoused by Mr Malema, and clarify exactly what steps his administration will take to address the failure of its land reform and rural development policies to date.

Of additional concern is that, following the recent invasion of the Eastern Cape farm, local SAPS officers have been reluctant to protect the property rights of the incumbent farmer. When the SAPS officers were called upon for assistance, they told the farm owners that they should apply for an eviction order to have the illegal occupants removed. It is reported that one of the group that has invaded the farm had previously owned the land, but that it had been sold after he failed to repay a loan from the Land Bank.

The DA regards it as imperative that an effective land reform programme is implemented in our country. Amending South Africa's skewed land ownership patterns is an important part of addressing the injustices of our past. It is, however, critical that such a policy is based on the rule of law and the constitutional provisions that govern property ownership. Only then can land reform be a "win-win" scenario, in which the rights of present and future landowners are protected.

A successful land reform programme cannot be furthered by radical statements by political demagogues, who seek to use the emotive issue of land restitution as a political tool- not as a means of empowering South Africans, developing our economy and addressing the legacy of the past.

The willing buyer, willing seller model has become a scapegoat for this administration's failure to address the poorly developed policy, weak management, lack of resources, corruption and poor implementation that has undermined the success of its land reform programme to date.

Should the willing buyer, willing seller model be abandoned, the impact on food security and our economy as a whole would be devastating. It is only through a well-resourced programme of land restitution, which has economic growth and job creation at its heart, that our country's skewed patterns of land ownership can be effectively and decisively addressed.

I will be writing to President Zuma, and Minister of Land Reform and Rural Development Gugile Nkwinti, to ascertain when the long overdue Land Reform Green Paper will be released and to call on the President to publicly put an end to the dangerous speculation regarding the trajectory of land reform in our country.

Statement issued by Athol Trollip MP, DA Parliamentary Leader, July 3 2011

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