Hon chair, it is hon Smit. Hon Minister, will you commit to transferring these pieces of land together with their title deeds to the relevant individual beneficiaries; and by when?
The MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE, LAND REFORM AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT: Hon
member, at the moment, the way in which government does release land for agricultural development in particular is through the leasehold of 30 years, with an option to buy. That is done primarily to ensure that different beneficiaries who receive such land can put it to good use so that in a period at least of five years.
The state can monitor, support where necessary and ensure that indeed this individual can use this land productively. That has been borne out of an experience over the years where we found people who have been assisted by the state, where land has been transferred and titled, but some of them within a year sold that land.
It does, therefore, not assist in terms of your distribution. It is also necessary for me to indicate that actually, when you look at freehold tenure, it is not only entitled: You can have user rights; and you can have leasehold, which is an acceptable tenure system in our country - and actually anywhere else globally.
If you have got a 30-year lease tenure, you can actually undertake any development that you want. It is not only that you must have title in order to even get credit on the land that you want to use. Thank you very much.