Land reform spending stagnates as budget, hectares are cut

Despite Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba saying in his budget speech that “accelerating land reform has become urgent”, the R4.2 billion allocated to buy 291 000 hectares of land in the next three years actually represents a reduction in state land buying.

The “acceleration” of settling restitution claims does involve larger amounts of claims a year, but the R10.8 billion price tag (over three years) is a slightly below-inflation increase on previous years.

The budget for land acquisition is set to fall in real terms and the hectares to be bought has been cut to a fraction of the buying the department of rural development and land reform has been doing.

According to the department’s vote it will try to buy 91950 hectares this year, down from 201 430 hectares two years ago and 354 802 hectares in the 2014/2015 year.

The budget for buying land will increase by 3.2% a year – less than expected inflation.