Hon Deputy Minister, through you House Chairperson, it is now 25 years since the democratic order was established but still today in the former homelands access to and the occupation of land is still regulated by the regulation that was passed by Parliament and other legislative bodies of the apartheid era. It is for this reason that the Upgrading Act was enacted to give black people secure rights in land. It permits them to convert occupational rights into ownership but due to related policy of apartheid that relief is not available to all South Africans.
In August this year, the Constitutional Court found out that it is unfair to afford redress to some of the victims of the discrimination under apartheid and withhold that redress from other victims based on where
they currently live. According to your own department, a submission to court there is no good reason for depriving those in the former homelands the benefits brought about by the Upgrading Act. When will your department comply with the ruling of the Constitutional Court and offer title deeds to people living in the former Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda and Ciskei states? Give people the choice if they want title to the land like the courts asked you.
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE, LAND REFORM AND RURAL
DEVELOPMENT: Hon House Chair, it is 25 years as she says and colonialism was more than 300 years. It is in recognition of that particular process that we understand that the construction of a united democratic nonsexist and nonracial South Africa is not an event. It is a process that is going to outlive both of us. What is important is that the department and this particular government are doing something to effect the redress and bring an equal society to our people. Thank you.