Policy overhaul needed

It is heartwarming to see consultative public engagements between government and stakeholders in policy-making. This ensures transparency and a sense of participatory inclusivity between the citizens and government in crafting the laws that govern our people.

The engagements between the department of agriculture, land reform & rural development and traditional leader councils representing the AmaNdebele aLebelo and AmaNdebele akwaSokhulumi in Gauteng, to deliberate on the land administration and land tenure reform systems in communal areas, has brought hope in refining the legislation that governs communal land in SA.

The challenges concerning the communal land tenure system were entrenched through the system of apartheid by various laws, including the Native Land Act of 1913. However, in democratic SA different land administration and land tenure reform legislation has evolved that affects communities mainly in communal areas, with the goal of redressing the inequities in land ownership.

Despite these laws challenges still exist, and a refinement of policy is needed to tailor-make legislation, within the SA jurisprudence, that will govern communal land. SA has a dual land administration system that is characterised by secure and insecure tenure systems. Insecure tenure is largely administered by traditional leaders, where land is either registered by traditional leaders or in the name of the state or remains unregistered.

The insecure tenure system is protected by the Interim Protection of Land Right Act, and right holders are issued with permission-to-occupy documents. This created a list of challenges which has resulted in many people, between 16-million and 17-million in communal areas, holding informal land tenure rights that are not recorded or registered.

Furthermore, about 2.7-million people live on land owned by others in commercial farming areas and are therefore vulnerable to eviction. A policy overhaul is needed to address these challenges.

Smangele Vukeya Kempton Park