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This strategic direction proposes a proactive state role in land redistribution, rejecting the willing buyer, willing seller model. It advocates increased resources, active negotiation, and expropriation when necessary. The focus is on benefiting the disadvantaged, with targeted measures for the poor, women, farm workers, and youth. The program aims to promote urban and rural development through land provision for production and settlement, integrated with infrastructure development. The state's role includes the right of first refusal, increasing budgets and staff, promoting subdivision for smallholders, and conducting land audits. It emphasizes proactive land acquisition and opposes market prices, supporting a moratorium on foreign ownership. This initiative also highlights the responsibility of local governments in municipal land reform and the promotion of small-scale agriculture. Commonage policies and local land forums play a key role in identifying needs. The strategy calls for a reevaluation of dominant land use models, prioritizing access to land for informal settlements and addressing challenges in existing projects.
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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.
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)
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.
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.
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.
