DA focuses on land reform

THE scramble for ownership of South Africa's tragic past - and the spoils that come with it - has begun in earnest.

The DA in Gauteng, led by members of its caucus in the provincial legislature, yesterday fired off a second salvo at the ANC, accusing it of failing to address the contentious and emotive issue of land reform.

The DA launched its Umhlaba kuBantu (Land to the People) campaign against the backdrop of the 100th-year anniversary of the passing of the Natives' Land Act in 1913. The party suggested that it, and not the ANC, could address the impact of the act.

Earlier this year, Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti indicated that 7.5% of land had been transferred from white to black people.

The DA said 55% of land in Gauteng, about 910140 hectares out of the 1654800 hectares according to 2011 statistics by the department of land reform and rural development, was state owned.

However, the province was found to be home to "552 identified informal settlements . which house about two million people".

The DA has moved swiftly to propose solutions it hopes will elevate it to power in Gauteng.

"It [land reform] is an election issue. It will form part of the DA's [election] campaign," admitted caucus leader Jack Bloom.

"The problem is that the [ANC-led] Gauteng provincial government has failed to identify and use this land effectively."

The DA has previously revealed that it is targeting 30% of votes in next year's elections while making a major play for Gauteng.

It received 16.66% of votes nationally in 2009 and 21.27% in Gauteng. These figures are decidedly far off the ANC's national tally of 65.9% of the votes and 64.76% in Gauteng.

The DA yesterday said a partial land audit of 4862 out of 6400 land parcels was completed in 2010/11 and 2011/12, adding that these pieces of land range from 400 to 20000 hectares in size. - molatlhwao@sowetan.co.za

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Steps to address land issues

WHAT the DA proposes:

• Complete a land audit of provincial land as soon as possible;
• Expedite the issuing of all outstanding title deeds to RDP house recipients;
• Fast track the formalisation of informal settlements in suitable areas so that they can own the land on which they live with a full title deed;
• Identify valuable state properties that can be sold or developed to raise revenue;
• Liaise with other state land owners in Gauteng to identify land that can be used for development or given to beneficiaries for housing or farming;
• Issue title deeds to claimants in the Gauteng farmer settlement programme, and expand the programme to benefit more previously disadvantaged people;
• lIntervene to finalise long-running land disputes such as in Alexandra township where this is delaying development; and
• Assist local governments to expand the issuing of title deeds, as in Cape Town where Mayor Patricia de Lille has pursued this aggressively.