COMMISSION 1 Land redistribution: Urban & Rural Development

1. COMMISSION 1Land redistribution: Urban & Rural Development

2. STRATEGIC DIRECTION Proactive role of the state • Consensus on rejection of willing buyer, willing seller (except AgriSA) • State must be the driving force behind land redistribution, rather than the present minimalist role. Specifically: more staff, more resources should be allocated for the programme, active negotiation with land owners and expropriation where needed. • State must have right of first refusal on all land sales. Who should benefit • Primarily the previously disadvantaged people should benefit, but specific measures should be taken to target: the poor, women, farm workers and the youth. Land redistribution to promote urban & rural development • Land redistribution must provide land for production and settlement, in both rural and urban areas. • Land redistribution needs to be integrated with infrastructure development.

3. ROLE OF THE STATE • Right of first refusal, with a reasonable timeframe • Land tax: support from all parties except AgriSA • Budget: substantial increases in budgets, more staff • Actively promote subdivision to provide for smallholders • Reverse the growing concentration of landholding but disagreement from AgriSA on how. Eg. land ceilings or one-family, one farm. • Conduct a land audit on public & private land (including municipal land) and make this information publicly available at local level • Moratorium on sale of state land – except for land reform purposes • There must speedy and just administrative action in land redistribution (cut the red tape, more capacity)

4. LAND ACQUISITION • Proactive acquisition by the state in response to identified needs, through negotiated purchase and where necessary expropriation. This is the alternative to WBWS that must be scrapped. • Disagreement on the expropriation aspect from AgriSA. • There was rejection of paying market prices. Two views: • Use Constitutional criteria to pay below-market “just and equitable” compensation • Do not pay any compensation (ie. Confiscation). This would require Constitutional amendment. • Strong support for moratorium on foreign ownership (but leasehold is an option) and address redistribution of land already owned by foreigners and reparations. • Target unused and underutilized land, and land of abusive farmers. • Insert a “social obligations clause” in the Constitution to protect those who occupy the above categories of land.

5. LOCAL GOVERNMENT Proactive role and responsibility for municipalities • Local government must play an active role in land and agrarian reform – identify local needs; release municipal land and assist to identify land to meet needs; and provide services and support to beneficiaries. • Ensure land reform is included in every IDP and define it as LED, ie. part of the mandate of local government. Municipal commonage policy • Stop allowing commercial farmers to use commonage • Promote access to municipal commonage for poor people and emerging farmers Local land forums to identify land needs and include landless, municipalities, DLA, Agriculture, landowners.

6. LAND USE & DEVELOPMENT • Revisit the dominant models of land use and agriculture. Support the option of small-scale agriculture. • People in informal settlements must be prioritised for access to land and housing on nearby unused land. • Moratorium on new golf courses and new game farms and other elitist developments, and privatisation of state forest land. • Invest in coordinated and better-resourced post-transfer support, including training, extension, access to markets and finance. • Urgent intervention to address problems in existing projects. • Disagreement about strategic partnerships: perpetuating inequality? Better safeguards & state facilitation must be put in place in strategic partnerships.