Land reform initiatives by government have failed significantly in South Africa. The High-Level Panel’s Report indicates that land reform is characterised by all the signs of State Capture such as budgets being siphoned off by elites, corruption in land acquisition and allocation, increasing maladministration, huge tracts of underutilised land, poor and reducing state capacity and inconsistent policy.
Land is a powerful economic resource with the potential to create opportunities that extend beyond the people who physically occupy it. But the land debate in South Africa has been approached as a tool for political rhetoric rather than an economic resource.
The DA’s discussions on land reform at congress will commit the party to the development and implementation of land reform policies that extend property ownership, attract investment, create jobs in the form of win-win partnerships and helps our nation to heal from the divisions of the past.
