Rethink land reform to redress unjust legacy of the 1913 Land Act

Note to editors: This is an extract of the speech that was delivered by DA Parliamentary Leader, Lindiwe Mazibuko MP, today during the 1913 Land Act debate in Parliament.

Honourable Deputy Speaker

The 1913 Native Land Act has been described as "Apartheid's original sin" and as "the start of a long century of injustice and racial economic exclusion" in South Africa. While these definitions are accurate, none seems capable of describing the extent and the consequences of this law, which bequeathed to our country a century of pain, suffering, despair and alienation. Its long, cold tentacles reached so far into the future that this law's effects are still with us today - 22 years after it was repealed.

Honourable Members,

Let me be clear: the 1913 Land Act was morally repugnant; it was a massive injustice. It originated a system that saw 80% of the people of our country - millions upon millions of black South Africans - removed from their homes and dumped onto 13% of South Africa's total land mass. 

The Native Land Act was one of the first of an arsenal of laws passed by the colonial and Apartheid governments to legislate black South Africans of all hues out of the formal economy of our country.  

From the Glen Grey Act introduced as far back as 1894 to the 1936 Native Trust and Land Act; from the Pegging Act of 1943 to the 1946 Asiatic Land Tenure Act; from the Group Areas Act of 1950 to the 1953 Bantu Education Act - all formed part of a complex and far-reaching bureaucracy devoted to depriving black South Africans of the right to participate fairly and equally in the economy. These laws prevented black citizens from moving freely and unencumbered around the country of their birth; and from use of their talents and intellect towards realising their aspirations to live lives of their choosing.

Sol Plaatje is often quoted with reference to the Native Land Act because he encapsulated so crisply the extent of its injustice: "Awakening on Friday morning, June 20th 1913, the South African native found himself not actually a slave, but a pariah in the land of his birth."

Honourable Deputy Speaker, it is precisely because the impact of this legislation continues to plague us today that we must continually ask ourselves: What must we still do to put right the many calculated wrongs of the past?

On this particular occasion, as we commemorate a century since the enactment of the Native Land Act, our attention must be focused on land reform and land restitution as measures of redress and reconciliation.

How far have we come in our efforts to redress the devastating effects of an Act that reserved 87% of South Africa's land exclusively for white ownership? Have we done enough to bind the wounds inflicted upon our country's people by subsequent policies like the system of "Bantustans"? 

The answer, unfortunately, is no. We still have a very long way to go. 

The question is what has gone wrong, and what must still be done to put right the injustices of the past? 

Honourable Deputy Speaker, the DA is fully committed to Land Restitution and Land Reform as means to redress the injustices of the past, and tools for building a stronger rural economy into the future. We believe that, if executed properly, a successful land reform process can play a vital role in rebuilding our commercial agriculture sector and making a meaningful contribution towards growing our economy and creating jobs.

But the process until now has been crippled by inefficiency. This government has failed to make good on its promise to redress these ills. Realising freedom takes more than just promises. It requires hard work and commitment. If we are going to redress the legacy of the 1913 Land Act, we need a government that has the capacity to deliver on its promises.

Most of us in this House agree on the need for an effective and sustainable programme of land reform that puts right the wrongs of the past. Today we must reflect on how to achieve this.

I believe we need to start thinking differently about land reform.

Do all people want to own land in rural South Africa, or would some prefer title deeds for urban properties which put them closer to economic opportunities?

Do citizens living on communal land have a stake in the property they have lived on and farmed for generations? If not, why are they denied this right?

What can we do to help emerging black farmers make economic successes of their enterprises, to redress the opportunity cost of being locked out of the rural economy for 100 years? 

Should we not put more focus on giving farm workers equity in existing enterprises that have already proven to be a success?

Deputy Speaker, time does not permit me to set out all the answers here today. 

The point is that we need to start thinking differently. We need to take the political heat out of land reform and come up with creative solutions that will benefit everybody.

It is not too late for us to roll back the inequalities imposed on our country by the Native Land Act. Indeed, when it comes to putting right the wrongs of the past, there is no time like the present.

Let us commit ourselves today to making this goal a reality.

I thank you.

Issued by the DA, June 20 2013

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