LETTER: According to land audits, who owns what is not clear cut
The land "expropriation without compensation" call by the ANC and the EFF has caused what can only be described as a hysterical debate. It seems that everybody, particularly every political party, is shooting from the hip before trying to understand the incredibly complex nature of the land issue. There are two land audits published by the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR): the 2013 audit considers user categories and use extent; the 2017 audit only considers ownership by individual person, race and gender. It is a fact that 79% of land in SA is privately owned, but a large portion of this ownership is in the form of trusts, companies and traditional authorities — only 39% can be traced to private individuals. The state directly owns 14%; 12.5% is managed by the state; and some 7% is unknown – 8,360,000ha. It is therefore very problematic to establish the racial and gender breakdown of both ownership and usage. However, according to the Department of Agricultur...
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