Land redistribution: People are opting for money instead of land

MINISTER of Land Reform and Rural Development, Mzwanele Nyhontso has expressed deep concern as majority of beneficiaries of the land restitution programme by the government are opting for money, instead of getting the land back.

Nyhontso, a veteran politician who is also president of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) was elected by President Cyril Ramaphosa in July as a Cabinet minister spearheading the land reform and rural development in the Government of National Unity.

Nyhontso said he has been criss-crossing the whole of South Africa, across all provinces and urging beneficiaries to choose land during the restitution process.

“Choosing land also goes with what we call settlement support which is also money, which means you can choose land and then have money. We want to educate our people about this, it is a concern that I have seen in these 100 days (that I have been) in office, that people prefer money,” he said.

In some instances, Nyhontso said families are given the land and the financial support but they rent out the farms.

“Once they get the farms, they utilise the money that they were given and end up renting out those farms, and the farms end up not working at all. It is also worrying because it feeds to the narrative that black people cannot farm, which is not true. This means if we allocate a farm to a person, we are making a follow up, making sure that the farm remains commercial, that farm remains productive,” he said.

Government is mooting employing individuals who will manage the allocated land “so that this farm remains a farm”, to assist the new owners.