PLAAS Criticises Govt Over Land Reform

The Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) says that despite receiving half a billion rand more from treasury than last year with funds of just over R4 billion, land reform is still spluttering along in South Africa.

PLAAS land analyst, Ruth Hall, points out that the 2010/11 national budget shows that there was no indication of a new direction for land reform.

"The budget suggests that despite the department's calls for great order-of-magnitude increases into the tens of billions of rands to fund land reform and to meet the magical 30 percent target, this is just not on the cards,” explains Hall.

Land affairs and rural development will get 18 percent more than last year, an amount of R1.56 billion, but land restitution that is used to fund land claims will get 18 percent less.

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