Legislation aimed at giving people living on communally owned land in the former homelands full and unhindered individual ownership of their land, has been drafted by the DA.
The party will submit its private member's bill on communal land rights to National Assembly Speaker Max Sisulu on Thursday, DA spokeswomen Lindiwe Mazibuko and Annette Steyn told journalists at Parliament.
“People living in the former homelands make up half of South Africa's population. It is unacceptable that, in the 17th year of democracy, they are still waiting for their land rights to be made secure,” they said.
Full individual ownership should be extended to ensure people living on communally owned land were empowered to live unencumbered on their land, and use it to improve their livelihoods.
Without full individual property rights, residents could not use their land as loan collateral, rent it out, or sell any portion of it to enjoy the full benefits of land ownership.
Land ownership had the potential to expand and diversify South Africa's commercial agriculture sector to increase productivity, create more rural jobs, and promote food security, they said.
In May last year, the Constitutional Court found the Communal Land Rights Act unconstitutional. The court ruled that it had been enacted in a procedurally incorrect manner.
The DA's bill proposed, among other things, that all land in the former homelands be surveyed to determine exactly how much land existed and who was living on it.
Once this had been done, land should be registered in individuals' names in the deeds registry, after a public announcement had been made calling for individual community members to register ownership of the land they were living on.
The rates collection system applicable in municipal areas should be applied in these areas as well, so the entire country was covered by a simple and uniform rates collection system.
– Sapa
The party will submit its private member's bill on communal land rights to National Assembly Speaker Max Sisulu on Thursday, DA spokeswomen Lindiwe Mazibuko and Annette Steyn told journalists at Parliament.
“People living in the former homelands make up half of South Africa's population. It is unacceptable that, in the 17th year of democracy, they are still waiting for their land rights to be made secure,” they said.
Full individual ownership should be extended to ensure people living on communally owned land were empowered to live unencumbered on their land, and use it to improve their livelihoods.
Without full individual property rights, residents could not use their land as loan collateral, rent it out, or sell any portion of it to enjoy the full benefits of land ownership.
Land ownership had the potential to expand and diversify South Africa's commercial agriculture sector to increase productivity, create more rural jobs, and promote food security, they said.
In May last year, the Constitutional Court found the Communal Land Rights Act unconstitutional. The court ruled that it had been enacted in a procedurally incorrect manner.
The DA's bill proposed, among other things, that all land in the former homelands be surveyed to determine exactly how much land existed and who was living on it.
Once this had been done, land should be registered in individuals' names in the deeds registry, after a public announcement had been made calling for individual community members to register ownership of the land they were living on.
The rates collection system applicable in municipal areas should be applied in these areas as well, so the entire country was covered by a simple and uniform rates collection system.
– Sapa
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