Majority of land beneficiaries are women: Mzwanele Nhyontso

Land reform and Rural Development Minister Mzwanele Nhyontso says the majority of land beneficiaries are women. Nhyontso was speaking during the Commemoration of 30 years of the Restitution of the Land Rights Act at the Freedom Park Heritage site in Pretoria today.

According to the Land Claims Commission, 90% of the 80,000 land claims received since 1998 have been processed.

Nhyontso has encouraged people to be patient with land claim processes as it might take years to fully resolve all the claims.

“There are 163 000 land claims from 2014. Former president Ntladi said it will take us 700 years to process. So, we also need to be creative and look at possibilities in the private sector to see how we can get funds to the space so that our people can find joy and reclaim their land and their dignity,” says Nyontso.

Meanwhile, a title deed recipient, Ledingwana Lekalakala says he appreciates government’s effort to assist him in getting his portion of land. He however, believes that white farmers are given first priority.

“The process is very slow. It is giving the perpetrators of our land claims the number one priority instead of us being given that priority. We feel that we are not taken care of by our own government, we voted for a government that is not taking care of us,” he says.

Land Rights | The Underlying problem