20 June 2001
The South African Communist Party (SACP) welcomes the call by Dr. Gilingwe Mayende, the Director General of the Department of Land Affairs, for a government policy on ownership and use of South African land by foreigners. This policy must include limits on ownership and leasing mechanisms by foreigners in line with a progressive programme for accelerated land reform. The SACP calls on government to act speedily on this call by Dr. Mayende.
Already, large tracts of productive land in our country and the Western Cape in particular are owned by foreign businesses from Europe and North America. This situation could worsen and effectively undermine land reform, reconstruction and development.
However, foreign ownership of land is just but one aspect of broader struggles for land reform in our country. The main problem remains that of democratic ownership, control and productive use of land by black people in our country in general, and by poor and working people in particular. In this regard, the state must play a central role through, amongst other things, land rights and ownership reverting to the state.
CONTACT
Mazibuko Kanyiso Jara
Department of Media, Information and Publicity South African Communist Party
Tel: 011 339 3621
Fax: 011 339 4244
Email: sacp1@wn.apc.org