Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa April 2018 - 100th Issue! | Page 19

COVER STORY
that: “The guarantee of private ownership to ensure invest-
ment, in tandem with addressing the ills of the past, is fun-
damental to a stable democracy.”
While it makes sense that those who own land are cur-
rently feeling nervous, angry, and confused, it’s worth a look at
the technicalities behind land policy.
Land policy
Professor Ben Cousins explains that the country’s land policy
rests on three main pillars: restitution, redistribution, and ten-
ure reform. “Restitution involves people claiming back land
taken away from them after June 1913, or compensation for
their loss. Land redistribution involves acquiring and trans-
ferring land from white farmers to black farmers, for a variety
of purposes, including farming and settlement. Tenure reform
aims to secure the land rights of those whose rights are inse-
cure as a result of past discrimination.”
According to Professor Cyril Mbatha, the current discus-
sion surround land expropriation seems to confuse land resti-
tution with land redistribution: “Expropriation, with or with-
out compensation, would be appropriate as terms in restitution
cases, where communities were forcibly removed, regardless of
whe