Settling land restitution claims has cost the government more than R50bn since 1994.
Of this money, R26bn has been paid as compensation to the owners of the claimed land, while R27bn has been paid to claimants who opted for money instead of taking back their land.
This was revealed by land reform minister Mzwanele Nyhontso on Wednesday while taking oral questions from MPs in the National Assembly along with other ministers in cabinet's economic cluster
Section 25 of the constitution compels the government to take land that was stolen from black people during apartheid days, but that it must do so with adequate financial compensation.
Parliament had previously attempted to amend this section of the constitution for it to reflect that there would be nil compensation for land that was successfully claimed, but this amendment did not receive enough votes.
To try to get around this issue, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed into law the expropriation act, which sought to give powers to determine how much should be paid for claimed land to the minister.
This act remains one of the central points of debate in the government of national unity to the extent that the DA sought to use the budget impasse to force Ramaphosa to reverse this law.
MK Party MP Andile Mngxitama, who put the compensation questions to Nyhontso, argued that it seemed that the land restitution process was overly beneficial to white farmers more than black claimants.
“Minister, this restitution process is basically a process that benefits land thieves. If you look at the amount of money that they have received in comparison to the financial compensation our people have received, white farmers receive much more than our people,” said Mngxitama.
“Would you agree that the restitution process right now has benefited white farmers more than it has benefited our people?”
But Nyhontso said the decision to either take back the successfully claimed land or get paid resides with the claimants and government could not force them to take the land instead of the money.
He said the government had tried to convince the claimants to take the land instead of financial compensation.
“We are working according to the restitution act, and we are giving people options. If people are claiming or have lodged a claim, we give them an option whether they are opting for money or the land,” said Nyhontso.
On whether the government has ever taken land and not compensated the previous owners, Nyhontso explained that it was the Office of the Valuer-General that determines how much the land is worth, and so far all the land that has been restituted came with financial compensation.
“We’ve been paying compensation when the claim is lodged, and the Office of Valuer- General determines what money must be paid to the previous owner and what money must be paid to the claimant. But there is no case where we ended up taking the land free of charge,” said Nyhontso.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.