OVERVIEW: The time has come – give our peoples' land back, Limpopo Communal Institute tells CRC

There are 780 000 written submissions, says an MP  

We want the time to go through them

The time has come – give our peoples' land back  

Amend section 25

The apartheid government systematically impoverished black people  

It was deliberate

There's a lack of consensus on land reform and what it should achieve  

There are inefficient processes and a lack of transparency

The spectacular unraveling of AfriForum

On Thursday Ernst Roets, deputy CEO of AfriForum, willfully and purposefully led the Afrikaner rights organisation, its members and supporters into the wilderness.

'Trump must really take his long hair and leave our people the hell alone' – SA farmers

South African farmers have demanded Donald Trump "leave us the hell alone" after the US president criticised the country's land reform plans, accusing him of trying to deflect attention from his own scandals.

We have noted the scare tactics that have been going around  

It doesn't matter how many scare tactics go around, but we must go through this process

Land ownership is not about owning a piece of land, but the spiritual connection people have to their roots.  

It's an emotional issue that cannot be ignored

Section 25:  

25 Property

(1) No one may be deprived of property except in terms of law of general application, and no law may permit arbitrary deprivation of property.

(2) Property may be expropriated only in terms of law of general application—

(a) for a public purpose or in the public interest; and

(b) subject to compensation, the amount of which and the time and manner of payment of which have either been agreed to by those affected or decided or approved by a court.

(3) The amount of the compensation and the time and manner of payment must be just and equitable, reflecting an equitable balance between the public interest and the interests of those affected, having regard to all relevant circumstances, including—

(a) the current use of the property;

(b) the history of the acquisition and use of the property;

(c) the market value of the property;

(d) the extent of direct state investment and subsidy in the acquisition and beneficial capital improvement of the property; and

(e) the purpose of the expropriation.

(4) For the purposes of this section—

(a) the public interest includes the nation’s commitment to land reform, and to reforms to bring about equitable access to all South Africa’s natural resources; and

(b) property is not limited to land.

(5) The state must take reasonable legislative and other measures, within its available resources, to foster conditions which enable citizens to gain access to land on an equitable basis.

(6) A person or community whose tenure of land is legally insecure as a result of past racially discriminatory laws or practices is entitled, to the extent provided by an Act of Parliament, either to tenure which is legally secure or to comparable redress.

(7) A person or community dispossessed of property after 19 June 1913 as a result of past racially discriminatory laws or practices is entitled, to the extent provided by an Act of Parliament, either to restitution of that property or to equitable redress.

(8) No provision of this section may impede the state from taking legislative and other measures to achieve land, water and related reform, in order to redress the results of past racial discrimination, provided that any departure from the provisions of this section is in accordance with the provisions of section 36(1).

(9) Parliament must enact the legislation referred to in subsection (6).  

SA Constitution

Justice in land reform means being fair

Senior Advocate Martin Brassey represented the Institute of Race Relations (IRR), as well as its 60 000 signatories, in making oral representations to the parliamentary committee to amend the Constitution. Brassey’s central claim on Wednesday was that justice is fairness.