Land Bill helps reverse legacy of apartheid

REOPENING of the land restitution window was needed!

"It is not the man who is bad; it is the law which is bad. It is not the man who is blameworthy for doing what the law allows and what other men do; it is the state which would be blameworthy if it were not to endeavour to reform the law and correct the practice," former British prime minister Winston Churchill once opined in a rare speech about land monopoly.

"We do not want to punish the landlord. We want to alter the law."

I recalled Churchill's speech, mostly the above extract, when President Jacob Zuma announced that he had signed the Restitution of Land Rights Amendment Bill and the reopening for the lodgement of land claims commenced last week.

As Churchill called for the law to be altered regarding land reform. Zuma, by signing the bill into law, has appropriately changed legislation for the benefit of South Africans and I believe this was not done to punish anyone, including land owners.

I welcome the signing of the bill as it will narrow the gap of land ownership patterns in this country while reversing the legacy of apartheid acts such as the 1913 Natives Land Act and the Group Areas Act which paved the way for land dispossessions.

The land audit released earlier this year, showed that more than 96 million ha (79%) of land was privately owned and more than 17 million ha (14%) was state land.

If the state moves at a fast pace, these grim statistics will be drastically transformed to the benefit of all South Africans, especially those who still bear the scars of apartheid.

Lungelo Mkamba, Pretoria