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Kwanalu

Kwanalu Land Desk Update

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By John Flanagan

 

 

It has been a busy year for the Land Desk as policy contributions towards the Expropriation Without Compensation Bill and land invasion have come to the fore.

 

 

Policy, policy, policy!

Policy contributions have largely revolved around land, security and water issues with substantial contributions to the land courts bill, the draft unlawful entering on premises bill and the expropriation bill.

 

Significant changes were accepted on our recommendations to the land courts bill and the expropriation bill, however there are still areas of concern particularly in the expropriation bill. If the expropriation bill is passed into law its current form, it does not in any way negate the need for ‘just and equitable’ compensation, but it opens up some lawful uses of land (for example speculation) to unnecessary scrutiny.

 

More concerningly, it refers to land where the landowner has ‘abandoned’ or ‘failed to exercise control’ over it as targets for possible expropriation with nil compensation. If read alone, it creates an impression that land invasions could be justified as ‘failing to exercise control’ over land.

 

Notably, when read together with the draft unlawful entering of premises bill, this is less of a risk as for the first time in South African law, with particular reference to allowing the arrest of unlawful intruders even if they have erected and/or occupied structures on the property.

 

Both of these regulations and the Land Courts Bill require more work and Kwanalu as well as AgriSA will continue to follow the development of the progress closely.

 

 

Contributions on state policy

Some popular views being advised by some organisations are to ‘reject’ a draft bill. Practically this is not constructive in our existing democracy. Draft policy is not a ‘vote’ but rather a form of construction. ‘Rejected’ policies can still be passed by the state because although as citizens we can contribute, we cannot reject unless there is a constitutional breach – in which case we can and would approach the courts. Rather, contributions are invited to craft a draft policy into a useful piece of legislation.

 

With this in mind, we can, line-by-line ‘reject’ or ‘recommend removal of’ particular lines and clauses and so assist in crafting a good policy. In our present political state we are glad to point out that to date, significant contributions from Kwanalu have been directly adopted – sometimes with whole sections of contributions copied and pasted into the parliamentary memos.

 

We’d like to thank landowners, members and professionals for contributing to surveys, sending in emails and ongoing contributions to robust and constructive policy contributions. Kwanalu will continue to advocate resolutely for the protection of property rights, the maintenance of law and order, and an ever increasingly robust legal framework.

 

 

Land invasion update

Regretfully, the recent period in KZN rural land security has been concerning. A key land invasion in southern KZN was followed up by a very slow state response to ongoing marking out of plots and construction of shacks.

 

Kwanalu undertook ongoing engagement with the department of land reform as the property was a state farm and we have eventually seen an order preventing occupation of the farm and await further proceedings for demolition of the uninhabited shacks on the 16th of January.

 

Despite the property being a state farm, Kwanalu have firm resolve to protect the agricultural land and production capacity in the province as well as continuing to guard the security of agricultural areas. Despite the long-time frames involved, the eventual action of the state to protect against the invasion of a state property is strongly welcomed.