The SA Human Rights Commission will investigate a complaint that Contralesa head Phathekile Holomisa had incited violence.

Commission spokesman Isaac Mangena said on Thursday the complaint from the Afrikanerbond related to remarks Holomisa made on an SABC TV programme.

The head of the Congress of Traditional Leaders of SA was speaking at the McGregor Mgolombana memorial lecture in the Eastern Cape.

According to an SABC report, Holomisa said land was not bought from blacks if it was forcibly taken by whites.

"We need to prepare ourselves next year for a struggle for the restoration of land, so that we no longer have situations where 87 percent of land is in white hands and the 13 percent is occupied by blacks," Holomisa said.

On Wednesday, Afrikanerbond chief secretary Jan Bosman said the comments by the chief were an incitement to violence.

Because he had made reference to race, the comments were also seen as advocacy of hatred.

Bosman said such statements had all the potential to be misinterpreted by "unsophisticated people".

Freedom of expression in the SA Bill of Rights excluded, among other things, propaganda for war, incitement of imminent violence and advocating hatred based on race, added Bosman.

Holomisa has denied saying anything that incited violence.

"There is absolutely nothing [in the statement] that violates the Constitution," he said on Thursday.

"As traditional leaders, we are the custodians of land and that land is a basic human right..."

Holomisa said the state did not have money to buy back land from white people and then distribute it among blacks.

He said every African was entitled to a piece of land, so individuals could build homes and produce food for their families.

"The matter is receiving our attention, and we will be investigating," said Mangena.