LAND Reform and Rural Development Minister Mzwanele Nyhontso has blamed the declining budget for the Land Claim Commission being unable to set a targeted date to settle all outstanding land claims.

This takes place as land restitution will not be completed by 2030.

“Due to the declining budget which result in the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights reduced its annual performance plans targets, the commission is unable to anticipated date to settle all land restitution claims,” Nyhontso said.

He was responding to the MK Party’s MP Andile Mgxitama who enquired in a parliamentary question about the date Nyhontso anticipated that all land restitution claims would be settled.

Mngxitama said it has been a total of 30 years of land restitution since the Restitution of Land Act was promulgated by the democratic government under the leadership of former president Nelson Mandela, when the cut-off date for land claims had been set for 30 June 2019.

He also said the land question was one of developmental targets that the National Development Plan, set to be met by 2030.

Mngxitama asked whether Nyhontso can give the nation his undertaking that land restitution will be completed in 2030 as the government land audit of 2017 showed that Africans owned only 4% of the land.

In his written reply, Nyhontso said land restitution will not be completed in 2030 due to the declining budget which resulted in the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights reducing its annual performance plan’s targets.

He said the commission was cognisant of the increased value of settlements and the declining budget.

“The commission has aligned the settlement and finalisation targets with the allocated budget. There is a need for increased budget and human resources capacity in order for the commission to accelerate the fast-tracking of land claims.”

Nyhontso noted that there were various challenges amongst others such as conflict amongst the beneficiaries, landowners challenging the validity of the claims and land invasions, which caused the delays in the settlement of claims.

“The Backlog Reduction Strategy, which refers to the settlement of old order claims, that targets the pre-1998 claims is currently being implemented in the commission in line with the allocated budget,” he said.

Last year, Nyhontso told Parliament that there were over 80 000 “old order” claims that were lodged before the 1998 cut-off deadline and 163 383 “new order” claims lodged lodged between July 2014 and July 2016.

In 2023, the Land Claims Commission said an estimated R68 billion was needed to settle “old order” claims within a period of five years, but warned that the budget allocation was not enough to finalise all outstanding claims.

“At the current settlement rate, the commission will need approximately 30 years to settle claims at a cost of R172 billion,” chief land claims commissioner Nomfundo Ntloko said at the time.

mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za