Nyhontsho's budget targets land inequality and fixing CPAs

Minister of land reform and rural development, Mzwanele Nyhontsho, presented the department’s budget earlier this week, calling it a commitment to redress equitable access to land for all and improving the lives of the people, especially those residing in rural areas.

Nyhontsho, while presenting the R9.820 billion budget, said land is a foundation for identity, dignity, and economic prosperity.

He said land is a key component of the factors of production; therefore, without land, any aspiration of socio-economic development remains just an aspiration.

“Thirty years of democracy in our country, land reform and land ownership remain highly contested and emotive subjects. Without a doubt, land reform is an engine for propelling inclusive growth, for reducing poverty and unemployment, and for fostering the expansion of the national tax base.

“It is therefore with this in mind that we welcome the current trend of convergence in the national discourse on the land question, among those of us who suffered dispossession and oppression,” he said.

Land reform and support programmes

According to Nyhontsho, land reform must thus speak to the need to access land for residential, small-scale farming, industrial, grazing, recreation, heritage, conservation, and commercial agriculture.

“The implementation of a meaningful land reform programme requires a coordinated approach to enhance integrated and sustainable interventions. We thus wish to pay tribute to the inter-ministerial committee on land reform, chaired by the deputy president, for the role it plays in coordinating various efforts to avoid overlapping and duplication of functions related to land reform.

“We are on record in a number of forums as having emphasised that the delivery of land and the provision of support to the beneficiaries of all land reform programmes are two sides of the same coin,” he said.

The land redistribution and tenure reform branch has been allocated a total budget of R1.073 billion. Within this budget, R559 million has been set aside to acquire and allocate 44 000 hectares of land.

“Our department is also addressing the challenges related to communal property associations (CPAs), particularly their dysfunctionality. To address this challenge, the department is implementing measures that include the establishment of an independent CPA office, which is currently headed by an acting registrar.

“Furthermore, a continuous process of training the executives of these structures on governance, financial management, land management, and related skills and capabilities is currently underway. A series of road shows that will culminate with a CPA Indaba has also been planned,” he said.

Land reform needs real budgets, not just promises

Addressing old land claims

The Commission on Restitution of Land Rights has been allocated a budget of R3.7 billion for the current financial year. The minister said the speed with which the claims are settled is heavily reliant on the allocated budget year on year.

“To address the challenge of expediting the pace of settling of the old order land claims, i.e. those lodged before the original cut-off date of 31 December 1998, the commission is streamlining processes, underwritten by new policies and standard operating procedures (SOPs), as part of an acceleration strategy.

“That said, however, additional financial and human resources will still be required, and in general terms we have to focus on enhancing the efficiency of the offices of the Land Claims Commission in the whole country,” he said.

Nyhontsho explained that other entities of the department, namely the Ingonyama Trust and the Office of the Valuer General (OVG), have been allocated R22 847 million and R65 440 million, respectively.

“As a department, we are committed to working with our people in these areas to turn the misfortunes of our people around,” he said.