No future for whites in SA if land distribution not addressed: Cronin

Deputy Minister of Public Works Jeremy Cronin on Tuesday said there would be no future for white people in South Africa if the challenges of land redistribution were not addressed.

Speaking at the Land Reform dialogue in Johannesburg‚ Cronin said as matters stood‚ South African had failed to address the issue of land reform.

He stressed that land reform could not be the burden of solely the land reform department but needed to be on the agenda of the whole government.

Cronin clarified that while the Economic Freedom Fighters had called for all land to be redistributed without compensation‚ this was not the stance of the ANC.

He proposed that there be a more strategic approach to the acquisition of land.

He highlighted that if the EFF's approach were to be considered‚ even poor communities stood to be negatively impacted by land expropriation‚ saying that some community members would be moved because government might need that land for water or even to erect infrastructure as property was not limited to land but to natural resources and shares.

Cronin suggested that the Bill of Rights introduce a brief limitation clause in the Expropriation Bill.

He suggested that the Bill be amended to read: "In cases of expropriation in the public interest‚ the state may withhold compensation where the property is (a) an abandoned building‚ (b) unutilised land‚ (c) property held unproductively and purely for speculative purposes‚ (d) under-utilised property owned by public entities‚ (e) land actively farmed by labour tenant in the absence of a title deed holder."

He listed several challenges of land restitution‚ including that the majority of beneficiaries opted for monetary compensation.

He said it was also complex to establish who should benefit from the restitution.

The immense backlog of land claims since 1998 also needed to be addressed.