LISTEN: Maimane: Government-owned farms must be distributed to the people
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Mmusi Maimane says government will be able to speed up land redistribution by handing over the 4000 farms in its possession.
He believes government must start by handing over the farms to the people who work the land.
Tuesday marks 105 years since the passing of the infamous Land Act of 1913.
Maimane and Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba handed out title deeds in Soweto to mark the occasion.
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The DA maintains that land expropriation without compensation is not the correct way to distribute land in South Africa.
“Let the people who work on the land own the land. Why should we make sure that a politically connected somebody who lives somewhere owns the land in a rural community through this programme? Its wrong,” Maimane told reporters.
Maimane said land ownership is key to economic empowerment.
“Title deeds allow people to choose whatever they want to do with the land that is given to them. So that when the government wants to build a road on that land, it can compensate those people. Whereas without a title, who else is there to compensate? It’s like another thievery that can take place."
Parliament's Constitutional Review Committee received over 700 000 petitions and public comments ahead of its deadline last Friday.
The committee has been tasked with reviewing Section 25 of the Constitution to test the feasibility of expropriating land without compensation.