No bail-out for land restitution project
19 November 2009
Source: PLAAS 2005
Wednesday’s Business Day reported that South Africa’s Land Claims Commission has overcommitted its funds with R10-billion to supply post-settlement support to restitution beneficiaries and pay for land it has purchased from landowners.
According to the report Treasury has turned down the commission’s request for an additional R10,3-billion for restitution over the next three years. A revised proposal for R3,1-billion is on the table.
Anonymous government officials are reported to have “warned of a ticking time bomb waiting to explode”.
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Another Countryside 
It is deeply worrying that the state has dug itself into a hole regarding overpayments for restitution projects as shown in the Business Day article posted – this has equally serious implications for land reform in general and food security more broadly.
But this is just an aside.
What i really wanted to do was to congratulate PLAAS in getting this blog up and running. Hopefully it will engender discussion around the important issues of land reform, restitution, food security and related issues that PLAAS has built such a strong reputation for. Many of the posts are really interesting.
What is probably more important though is that this blog is not just another dialogue between insiders but that what is discussed here gets taken to national leadership level so that they can become engaged in cutting edge (hopefully!!:-)) discussions about where we have gone and where we are going right and wrong. It appears that the new ministry is battling to find its feet and any assistance given by this institution and this blog will hopefully be constructive.
Last thing – please keep your posts as short as possible. That is one of the requisites of a blog, not to post essays – I am the last to speak as I am as guilty of this as anyone but it helps to try at least……..
Thank you for the kind words, Glenn! We share your hope that this forum becomes a place for cutting edge and critical debate, and that it facilitates discussions between scholars, activists and policymakers.
We will try to avoid being long-winded and boring – but sometimes our contributors will need a bit of extra space to make their points. From our side, within reason, we will allow it. Our purpose, after all, is to allow searching discussions that go beyond the obvious.
Tax policy that shifts tax off labor and production and onto land value and resource rent can strongly promote land reform without needing to pay for land. This policy is promoted by Development Action Group in Cape Town, South Africa, by the UN Habitat Global Land Tool Network (land value capture), my Earth Rights Institute and many other orgs. Please consider the efficacy of this approach to reach your land reform goals.
Our online course on Land Rights and Land Value Capture, which has over 100 people enrolled from South Africa, is here: http://www.course.earthrights.net