Letter: Land grabs won’t help without title deeds

Julius Malema must be chuckling to himself every time he retires to his multimillion-rand mansion in Sandton. He tells homeless people to grab land, but knows that it won’t help them upgrade their poor situation.

In a modern state – and with all his luxuries, Malema obviously wants to live in a modern state – what people actually need are title deeds to land. With such title deeds, they have sureties to help them out of poverty.

Unfortunately, not everyone can get their hands on all the questionable tenders that propelled Malema to his millionaire status.

The people most in need of title deeds to a patch of land are those living in tribal areas.

Here the local chiefs can dictate who can use what land, and consequently their minions have little incentive or opportunity to invest in the land and better their own situations.

Malema would do well to push for structured land ownership with facilities and title deeds.

Uncoordinated and illegal land grabs help no-one, least of all the people doing the grabbing.