Thread by @RuthHallPLAAS

Webinar: The land of opportunity?

We will share the map we created to show *which* land government is offering for redistribution. #landreform

It's clear: mostly marginal state farms already occupied by black farmers

Starts 1pm today - or watch after

This is land acquired by the SADT (South African Development Trust) mostly in 1970s for homeland consolidation - ie. adjacent - but never incorporated. ​So they are only outside the 'homelands' in the sense that they are registered as 'farms' on the cadastral system. #landreform

Siyabu Manona says the EFF tail is wagging the ANC dog..... This is not land redistribution: it's reallocating state land that is already held by black farmers on leasehold. Making available 896 farms and 700,000ha sounds impressive, but it's not white land. @ManonaSiyabu

Siyabu says he's worried Minister @ThokoDidiza has set a strict timeline for allocating this vast land. Land redistribution doesn't have a deadline. Should be done properly, publicly, with accountability. Few people will get land, in a hurry, & most will get nothing #landreform

Land acquired in 1970s and 1980s was leased out often to homeland bureaucrats & other connected people. Some investigated by SIU. This is political and bureaucratic elites, half a century ago - apartheid-era land reform. Most farm workers stayed on land and continued to farm.

Land reform started by apartheid govt was in 1970s, 80s, 90s: leased out state farms acquired through homeland consolidation to homeland elites. @rosiekingwill is detailing how, decades later, there is a mess in terms of land rights & admin in these areas. #landreform

Here you go: the map. It's searchable. The land govt is proposing to redistribute is mostly in former homelands. This will not contribute to racial equality in any way: already occupied and used by black South Africans. protect-za.mimecast.com/s/aoI9C66y05Hr…

Govt is now arguing that the black South Africans already occupying this land don't have rights to the land in terms of the Interim Protection of Informal Land Rights Act (IPILRA) because it's not 'communal land' but title. But people who've lived there for 50+ years have rights!

Thembakazi Matsheke is from one of the state farms being advertised, Gwayu outside Queenstown, EC. She & her family have lived there for decades, now finds their land is being advertised. On the map of farms advertised, with aerial photo superimposed, she can see her house.

Here's the land that government is offering to redistribute via leases. #landreform

Here's where the state farms are (little blobs in red) in relation to the old Bantustan boundaries. Govt is proposing to redistribute land already in the communal areas. Former white farms that black people have occupied for past 30-50 years. #landreform

That's a wrap, and you can explore and zoom into the map to see your district, on this link: google.com/maps/d/viewer?…