COMMISSION 1 Land redistribution: Urban

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COMMISSION 1Land redistribution Urban Rural
Development
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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.

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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)

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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.

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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.

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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.