S Africa to limit land ownership by foreigners

In a major land-reform measure, the South African government is set to limit land ownership by foreigners, who till the advent of democracy in 1994 owned more than 80 per cent of the share.

Announcing this in Cape Town on Thursday, Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform Gugile Nkwinti said the government does not want to wait much longer for land re-distribution
before a state of "explosion" was reached.

"The Jacob Zuma government has prioritised rural development and land reform over the next five years," he said.

The move comes amid large-scale protests by landless people on the grounds that only three per cent of land was re-distributed as against the initial target of 30 per cent since 1994.

According to official estimates, by the time democracy ushered in 1994 more than 80 per cent of the land was owned by the minority white population while the majority black Africans owned less than 15 per cent.

An organisation, Landless People of South Africa, also protested that the policy of "willing buyer-willing seller" did not work as most marginalised people did not have the money to buy lands leading to a situation where foreigners, especially Europeans, purchased land at exorbitant prices.