Expropriation of land without compensation was a top campaign ticket for populists ahead of the May elections. Populists are always too economical with the truth because they could not tell the electorates what they are likely to do with expropriated land that they are unable to do with state land in rural areas.
I am not disputing the disparities in land ownership, but there are large hectares of virgin land in rural provinces, which are state-owned, but remain unused. What prohibits the state from developing its unused land?
Most informal settlements emanate from illegal occupation of the state’s unused land, with residents often being told that the land is still to be developed, without any evidence to the contrary.
During apartheid, Africans were not allowed to own land as they were treated as subhuman and considered foreigners in their own country. Urban residents were given 99-year leases to occupy four-roomed houses and had to pay rent, while their rural counterparts were given Permission To Occupy (PTO), paying annual levies to traditional leaders.
But post-1994, urban dwellers were no longer paying rent for their four-roomed houses and were given title deeds. Rural residents still pay annual levies to traditional leaders, like it was during apartheid, as they are still being issued with PTOs and treated like foreign nationals in their own country. The apartheid regime governed Africans from above through bantustans, and it’s still the case today, as the state still governs rural Africans from above, using traditional leaders.
READER LETTER | Large hectares of state's virgin land remain fallow in rural areas
Expropriation of land without compensation was a top campaign ticket for populists ahead of the May elections. Populists are always too economical with the truth because they could not tell the electorates what they are likely to do with expropriated land that they are unable to do with state land in rural areas.
I am not disputing the disparities in land ownership, but there are large hectares of virgin land in rural provinces, which are state-owned, but remain unused. What prohibits the state from developing its unused land?
Most informal settlements emanate from illegal occupation of the state’s unused land, with residents often being told that the land is still to be developed, without any evidence to the contrary.
During apartheid, Africans were not allowed to own land as they were treated as subhuman and considered foreigners in their own country. Urban residents were given 99-year leases to occupy four-roomed houses and had to pay rent, while their rural counterparts were given Permission To Occupy (PTO), paying annual levies to traditional leaders.
But post-1994, urban dwellers were no longer paying rent for their four-roomed houses and were given title deeds. Rural residents still pay annual levies to traditional leaders, like it was during apartheid, as they are still being issued with PTOs and treated like foreign nationals in their own country. The apartheid regime governed Africans from above through bantustans, and it’s still the case today, as the state still governs rural Africans from above, using traditional leaders.
Traditional leaders too are too economical with the truth regarding who owns the land they claim is theirs, whereas they’re managing it. Not all traditional leaders own land, they’re simply managing the land on behalf of the state. Whenever Africans buy rural land from traditional leaders, they’re still given PTO instead of title deeds, as was the case during apartheid. Africans in rural areas are still unable to secure finance with financial institutions using their land as collateral because PTOs are not accepted as security.
The state and/or traditional leaders are not interested in the development of rural areas, though they always complain about increasing migration to urban areas. Economic development seems to be a foreign language to most traditional leaders, as PTOs remain entry barriers towards the development of rural communities. There’s a huge potential for agricultural and tourism sectors in rural areas, but PTOs are prohibiting Africans from economically developing rural communities.
Urban migration is likely to be with us for as long as the development and growth potential of rural economies is still reserved for white people like it was the case pre-1994.
The state seems to have replaced bantustans with traditional leaders. How very sad.
Phepisi Radipere, GaRamokadi-kadi, Limpopo