BRIEFING LAND RESTITUTION SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

LAND RESTITUTION IN SOUTH AFRICA: 

LAND RESTITUTION IN SOUTH AFRICA HONOURING THE PROMISE OF OUR CONSTITUTION THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE LAND RESTITUTION PROCESS TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

LAND RESTITUTION IN SOUTH AFRICA: 

LAND RESTITUTION IN SOUTH AFRICA It is apposite to quote the White Paper on South African Land Policy, where it states: “Land is an important and sensitive issues to all South Africans. It is a finite resource which binds all together in a common destiny. As a cornerstone for reconstruction and development, a land policy for the country needs to deal effectively with: The injustices of racially based land dispossession of the past; The need for a more equitable distribution of land ownership.

LAND RESTITUTION IN SOUTH AFRICA: 

LAND RESTITUTION IN SOUTH AFRICA The need for land reform to reduce poverty and contribute to economic growth; Security of tenure; and A system of land management which will support sustainable land use patterns and rapid land release for development.” As more and more land is being restored to both individual households and communities, especially in rural areas, the question of land management which supports sustainable land use patterns, is being brought to sharp focus.

LAND RESTITUTION IN SOUTH AFRICA: 

LAND RESTITUTION IN SOUTH AFRICA Government support in the form of a Planning Grant of R1440-00 per household and a Restitution Discretionary Grant of R3000-00 per household are just not enough to ensure that people return to land that they will be able to untilise in a way conducive to sustainable development. As a matter of deliberate and conscious policy, the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights, is acting as a catalyst, an agent for change, which links communities, where land has been restored, with donor organisations, both private and public, local and international.

LAND RESTITUTION IN SOUTH AFRICA: 

LAND RESTITUTION IN SOUTH AFRICA The Commission on Restitution of Land Rights, provides the donor organisations with profiles of communities whose land has been restored, and the former can choose which communities they would like to support directly, and in the case of foreign government donors, they could enter into government-to-government bilateral arrangements, and the Commission via the Department of Land Affairs could – Act as a conduct for such funds, earmarked for specific communities, and specific projects.

LAND RESTITUTION IN SOUTH AFRICA: 

LAND RESTITUTION IN SOUTH AFRICA The land restitution programme restores land which has, more often than not, land with mixed land use patterns, ranging from land for human settlement, land for agricultural production, land for stock farming of domesticated animals, land for wild gaming, land with eco-tourism potential, etc. The land restitution programme aims to encourage communities to seize the opportunities of utilising their restored land for sustainable development, but it will take more than encouragement for communities to do this. It calls for material support, with resources which will enable them and empower the communities to take charge of their destiny.

LAND RESTITUTION IN SOUTH AFRICA: 

LAND RESTITUTION IN SOUTH AFRICA The challenge is to all people of goodwill, including current land owners, the private/public sector, local and international donors, to join hands with the South African government, in working towards a better life for all in the area of land reform, in general, and land restitution, in particular. Such a well-considered, well planned and well-resourced approach, will bring sobriety to the fire-eaters, who want to push recklessly for land invasions, with dire consequences for all involved. .

LAND RESTITUTION IN SOUTH AFRICA: 

LAND RESTITUTION IN SOUTH AFRICA Next year, 2002, as South Africa hosts the World Earth Summit, on sustainable development, we are challenged to think, and act, sustainable development, in all we do. We are challenged, all of us, to make sure that sustainable development forms the cornerstone of our work.

LAND RESTITUTION IN SOUTH AFRICA: 

LAND RESTITUTION IN SOUTH AFRICA In conclusion, to paraphrase Judge Damon Keith, we too can say that: “ This nation, in all its diversity, stands at the southern tip of the African continent, and before the world, as perhaps the last hope of the possibility that a people, so diverse, can devise a social order, where justice is the supreme ruler and law but its instrument, where freedom is the dominant creed and order but its principle; and where equality is common practice and fraternity the common human condition, where the clarion call of building a better life for all is heeded by all and sundry in action, so as to pass to posterity a changed and a better world than we found it.”

LAND RESTITUTION IN SOUTH AFRICA: 

LAND RESTITUTION IN SOUTH AFRICA We are honouring the promise of our Constitution, Balancing the land rights of all South Africans, Under the Rule of Law, Contributing towards sustainable development. By Advocate Wallace A Mgoqi November 2001