Thank you, Mr Speaker. The IFP supports this Budget Vote, in particular its prioritisation of rural development. However, the following concern is recorded: The IFP completely rejects individual land ownership in rural areas. It demands clarity on the modus operandi of this process. If freehold titles are granted freely, then even the poor will be accommodated, but there will be more applicants than there are sites to go around and the land scramble will degenerate into chaos.
On the other hand, if properties are sold, the poor will remain landless while land titles go to the rich. I am told that even here in Cape Town the prime land is owned by overseas investors. Even the argument that freehold titles would enable black entrepreneurs to raise business loans, pales in significance when we consider that failure to repay those loans will result in further land dispossession, leaving blacks without any recourse since all land will then be owned by the banks.
Usually, when people's properties are repossessed in urban areas, they return to the communally owned land where they are given sites by amakhosi. This is why amakhosi and their subjects fought bitter and sanguinary wars against the colonies. They were trying to prevent what is being planned by the government. They were trying to preserve some land for posterity. Thank you.