'If opposition parties persisted in telling Nkwinti that the Green Paper could be unconstitutional, he would ask the Cabinet to amend the Constitution'
RURAL Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti is considering reopening the land claims process.
Nkwinti also warned that the current land reform model, designed to promote reconciliation instead of equity, was a "ticking time bomb".
"It was correct at that time to do it but now we are seeing red lights. Once we turn it into political point scoring, we are running the risk of exploding the time bomb," he said.
People whose land was stolen between 1913 and 1994 were given until December 31 1998 to register claims for their land with the Land Claims Commissioner.
But Nkwinti told a meeting of Parliament's rural development committee yesterday that he wanted the date reopened.
"We have consulted a lot from November last year until May this year. We met more than 3000 people and the point came out very strongly that we must re-open the lodgment date," Nkwinti said.
"We are presenting that to the cabinet for a decision."
The Green Paper on Land Reform proposes a new land management commission that can nullify title deeds and confiscate land if it were obtained via corruption.
It also wants a new land valuer general's office to be set up to value land and decide what should be paid to landowners when the government expropriates land.
The DA opposes both on the grounds that the land valuer general is likely to start a system of price regulation, which is against the free market system.
The land management commission's powers to terminate land ownership undermine constitutional right to own property, the DA has said.
But the department's director-general, Mdu Shabane, warned that the "willing buyer, willing seller" principle was not a policy set in stone.
If opposition parties persisted in telling Nkwinti that the Green Paper could be unconstitutional, he would ask the cabinet to amend the Constitution.
SA's land reform a ticking time bomb, warns minister
'If opposition parties persisted in telling Nkwinti that the Green Paper could be unconstitutional, he would ask the Cabinet to amend the Constitution'
RURAL Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti is considering reopening the land claims process.
Nkwinti also warned that the current land reform model, designed to promote reconciliation instead of equity, was a "ticking time bomb".
"It was correct at that time to do it but now we are seeing red lights. Once we turn it into political point scoring, we are running the risk of exploding the time bomb," he said.
People whose land was stolen between 1913 and 1994 were given until December 31 1998 to register claims for their land with the Land Claims Commissioner.
But Nkwinti told a meeting of Parliament's rural development committee yesterday that he wanted the date reopened.
"We have consulted a lot from November last year until May this year. We met more than 3000 people and the point came out very strongly that we must re-open the lodgment date," Nkwinti said.
"We are presenting that to the cabinet for a decision."
The Green Paper on Land Reform proposes a new land management commission that can nullify title deeds and confiscate land if it were obtained via corruption.
It also wants a new land valuer general's office to be set up to value land and decide what should be paid to landowners when the government expropriates land.
The DA opposes both on the grounds that the land valuer general is likely to start a system of price regulation, which is against the free market system.
The land management commission's powers to terminate land ownership undermine constitutional right to own property, the DA has said.
But the department's director-general, Mdu Shabane, warned that the "willing buyer, willing seller" principle was not a policy set in stone.
If opposition parties persisted in telling Nkwinti that the Green Paper could be unconstitutional, he would ask the cabinet to amend the Constitution.
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