JOHN STEENHUISEN: Property rights and the rule of law the wisest way forward
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The fight for land is at the heart of the fight for economic justice and the ANC and DA should wake up to this fact, writes Carol Paton, citing the recent spate of illegal land occupations (“Land is the real life-and-death politics of SA (”, August 31).
The DA is alert to the importance and urgency of redressing the spatial legacy of apartheid and colonialism, which have left SA with a deeply inequitable distribution of land and economic activity. We are committed to building a fairer SA where more and more people and households have access to economic opportunities, including to land and home ownership.
We do not, however, agree with Paton’s assertion of a “central dilemma contained in the constitution: how to protect private property rights while giving meaning to the right of the poor to access housing”. On the contrary, the DA believes economic justice and secure private property rights are mutually reinforcing rather than competing imperatives.
For one thing, effective land reform and housing initiatives require a growing economy with growing tax receipts that can fund such programmes. Nothing will kill investment in SA’s economy as fast as expropriation without compensation, and other such policies that undermine private property rights.
For another, secure private property rights are central to successful land reform, where emerging farmers gain not only secure tenure over land but also the support and collateral necessary to farm it productively.
We strongly disagree with the ANC and EFF approach to land “justice”, which envisages the state as the owner of land and “empowered” black farmers as tenants of the state. Without title deeds to the land they farm, emerging farmers will be unable to raise loans to purchase seed or livestock using the farm as collateral, as most farmers do. Instead, they will remain beholden to the whims of ANC authoritarianism.
David Rakgase had to wage an 18-year battle with the government before he was finally able to buy the land he has farmed for 30 years — after a successful legal challenge financed by the DA.
The DA supports a single system of land tenure across SA for all people, including those living on tribal lands: individual ownership of title deeds. We do not believe economic justice will be achieved by taking the ANC route, which is to keep people living on tribal lands under tribal authorities.
With respect to urban housing, the ...
The DA is alert to the importance and urgency of redressing the spatial legacy of apartheid and colonialism, which have left SA with a deeply inequitable distribution of land and economic activity. We are committed to building a fairer SA where more and more people and households have access to economic opportunities, including to land and home ownership.
We do not, however, agree with Paton’s assertion of a “central dilemma contained in the constitution: how to protect private property rights while giving meaning to the right of the poor to access housing”. On the contrary, the DA believes economic justice and secure private property rights are mutually reinforcing rather than competing imperatives.
For one thing, effective land reform and housing initiatives require a growing economy with growing tax receipts that can fund such programmes. Nothing will kill investment in SA’s economy as fast as expropriation without compensation, and other such policies that undermine private property rights.
For another, secure private property rights are central to successful land reform, where emerging farmers gain not only secure tenure over land but also the support and collateral necessary to farm it productively.
We strongly disagree with the ANC and EFF approach to land “justice”, which envisages the state as the owner of land and “empowered” black farmers as tenants of the state. Without title deeds to the land they farm, emerging farmers will be unable to raise loans to purchase seed or livestock using the farm as collateral, as most farmers do. Instead, they will remain beholden to the whims of ANC authoritarianism.
David Rakgase had to wage an 18-year battle with the government before he was finally able to buy the land he has farmed for 30 years — after a successful legal challenge financed by the DA.
The DA supports a single system of land tenure across SA for all people, including those living on tribal lands: individual ownership of title deeds. We do not believe economic justice will be achieved by taking the ANC route, which is to keep people living on tribal lands under tribal authorities.
With respect to urban housing, the ...