The Portfolio Committee on Land Reform and Rural Development received a briefing from the Minister of Land Reform and Rural Development on developing legislative measures to ensure equitable access to land.
Outlining the purpose of the meeting, committee Chairperson Mr Mangaqa Albert Mncwango said the matter of the Land Reform Framework Bill or Land Redistribution Bill has been a subject of discussion in this and previous committees in the 5th and 6th Parliament. Referring to Section 25(5) of the Constitution, Mr Mncwango highlighted that the government must foster conditions that enable citizens to access land equitably. However, to date, no law or policy has been enacted to define the right to equitable access to land.
Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, Mr Mzwanele Nyhontso, said the Bill was still in development and had yet to be approved by Cabinet before being published for public comment and ultimately introduced to Parliament. He informed the committee that, due to this process, the current draft might substantially differ from what the department has presented.
The committee heard that there were gaps between the White Paper on South African Land Policy and existing legislation. The Bill seeks to close the gaps. It would provide for, among other things, principles for access to land, access to land by the state and citizens, the identification and selection of beneficiaries, applications and records for land allocations, a register of agricultural land, notification of present land ownership, land ownership ceilings, a land tribunal and regulations.
Regarding the timelines, the department expects the Bill to be submitted for Cabinet approval in March this year and published for public comment between April and May, the committee heard. The department expected Cabinet approval in June and final certification by the Office of Chief State Law Adviser in July. The Bill would go to NEDLAC for deliberation in August and be tabled in Parliament in October 2025.
The committee welcomed the presentation. Members were less impressed with the lack of meaningful progress with the development of the Bill. They also not that using different names for this Bill was a concern as it often leads to confusion. While there was a need to clarify the meaning of equitable access, the committee urged the department to clarify who owns what piece of land. It means there has to be a credible land audit so that the government can determine what equitable access means.
Mr Mncwango said the committee hoped that, among other things, the Bill would address the many challenges in land redistribution, especially the coordination of post-settlement support and the question of budget. He noted that the declining allocation for land redistribution shows a lack of political will to tackle the land question in South Africa. The concern, the Chairperson noted, was that the presentation lacked details about the specific proposals to address the challenges. He stressed that the High-Level Panel on the Assessment of Key Legislation and Acceleration of Fundamental Change (HLP) had identified the challenges and recommended a Land Reform Framework Bill. Therefore, it was important for the Bill to address the issues raised in the High-Level Panel Report.
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The Chairperson said that the department appears to be good at identifying the challenges but weak in crafting solutions. He referred to the challenges of Communal Property Associations and farm evictions, among others. Evidence from oversight shows that the challenges persist. The Chairperson called for pointed legislative intervention to address the challenges of land redistribution.
The committee noted that the timeframes presented were a departure from what the former Minister presented to the committee. The committee expressed concerns over the lack of urgency on this matter. What was worrying was that the public has begun litigation processes to compel Parliament to pass the legislation, yet there appears to be little progress from the department. The Chairperson said that the committee would have to monitor progress against the set timeframes to ensure that the Bill is tabled in Parliament without further delay.
