1. Can we have effective land reform without changing the constitution?
Yes. Land reform that gives ownership to South Africans can be achieved immediately. It’s not the South African Constitution that is holding the process back but rather a government that has failed to implement effective land reform in South Africa due to corruption, maladministration.
If the ANC truly cared about giving land back to South Africans, it would start with the more than 4,300 state-owned farms and nearly two million hectares of state owned land that can be redistributed to black land beneficiaries immediately.
We do not have a Constitutional problem, we have an ANC problem.
2. What would the DA do if they were in government?
We would not change the constitution. Land Reform can be successful in South Africa, without amending Section 25 of the Constitution.
We would start by immediately redistributing state-owned land across the length and breadth of South Africa and ensuring that all tribal land be given to those living on it.
Anyone who wants to farm should receive the support they need to be successful. They must be given skills and access to the resources they need.
We would also speed-up the provision of urban title deeds. While some want to work the land, many others want little more than a patch of land to live on and call home and pass on to their children.
3. What has the DA done where they govern?
Where the DA governs, land reform is most successful. We lead the way when it comes to giving people ownership of their homes, through the provision of urban title deeds.
Since 2016, our governments here in Tshwane and in Johannesburg have already handed over almost 10,000 title deeds. In the Western Cape we have handed over more than 90,000 title deeds since 2009.
If the ANC and EFF had their way, all of these 100,000 title deeds would be state owned, and these beneficiaries would no longer have ownership of their home.
When it comes to agricultural land, the DA has championed the project of voluntary share equity schemes, that transfer skills and create a partnership. Farm workers are given ownership of the farm they work.
There is no doubting that the 1913 Land Act was apartheid’s original sin and that people were deprived of land ownership. There is also no doubt that land must be given to the people by an effective and efficient land redistribution policy.
We cannot, however try to undo the injustices of the 1913 Land Act by an equally disempowering Land Act in 2018.
We believe that land reform beneficiaries should be land owners in their own right, as this provides them an opportunity to be a part of the economy, owning an asset that can be used as leverage, or passed on through generations.
We will never support the ANC and EFF’s policy, that will ultimately see poor South Africans as permanent tenants on state-owned land.
We are fighting for #JusticeThroughLandOwnership