Hon Deputy Speaker, according to phase one of the desktop analysis on state land carried out by the Chief Surveyor-General for the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, and as presented to the parliamentary committee on 31 March 2011, the purpose of the project was to compile a comprehensive, accurate, complete and reliable database of all land parcels registered in the name of the government of the Republic of South Africa.
In September 2013 Mmuso Riba, the Chief Surveyor-General, reported that 96 million ha of land were in the hands of private owners and trusts, whilst the state remained with only 17 million ha.
In reality, the democratic state of an apartheid- and colonial-free South Africa owns only 14% of land. It was determined, however, that not all of the records in the state land database could be reconciled accurately.
In essence, we as indigenous or naturalised South Africans effectively do not own much of our own land. We are South Africans by name, but landless in reality. This is a serious indictment on our sovereignty.
On the crucial land issue, the final Constitution of 1996, emanating from the relevant section 28 in the interim Constitution, reads as follows:
Every person shall have the right to acquire and hold rights in property, and to the extent that the nature of the rights permits, to dispose of such land.
No deprivation of any rights in property shall be permitted otherwise than in accordance with a law.
It is widely accepted that section 28 represented a compromise that has left the people of this country poorer. This has affected the development of housing in municipalities, the distribution of services and the allocation of land and resources to the previously disadvantaged. South Africa has to own up to this reality.
We look forward to the new administration in the next Parliament to treat this matter with urgency and to give it the legitimacy it deserves. I thank you. [Applause.]