Attending the Portfolio Committee meeting on Rural Development and Land Reform on 25 June 2025, as a member of the public and on behalf of the Rural Women’s Assembly (RWA) and the Trust for Community Outreach and Education (TCOE), was a sobering experience. While our participation was limited to observation, the weight of the discussions and the many absences, both literal and symbolic, left us with deep concern about the state of land reform in South Africa.
At the heart of the meeting was a stark admission: the Department will not have the financial resources to acquire land for redistribution for the next five years. This, coupled with the department’s stated target of redistributing 200,000 hectares, equivalent to perhaps four commercial farms, exposes an alarming disjuncture between policy ambition and operational reality. Meanwhile, the National Development Plan (NDP) calls for the transfer of 12.7 million hectares of land over the same period. The 200,000-hectare figure is not only inadequate; it is emblematic of a deep failure of political will.
Worryingly, this departmental paralysis is not limited to budget constraints. The Acting Director-General has resigned under unclear circumstances, and the Deputy Minister was notably absent from the session without a formal apology. The committee itself expressed frustration at the lack of transparency around the resignation, pointing to a broader crisis of leadership and accountability.
The Minister, for his part, appeared weighed down, more a caretaker of a failing structure than a driver of transformation. His response to key questions lacked urgency and depth. The department’s presentation focused heavily on abstract notions like “inclusive growth,” yet failed to connect these with the tangible needs of rural communities, particularly the landless, women farmers, labour tenants, and those facing evictions.
One glaring example of misaligned priorities was the R56 million equity scheme in Franschhoek, where workers remain disenfranchised while the original landowner continues to control the property. This is not land reform, it is business as usual, cloaked in the language of transformation.
Committee members raised critical questions about the delay in the amendment of the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act, resistance from traditional authorities, and the long-stalled Communal Land Bill. These legislative reforms are crucial, yet the process drags on, and when public participation is eventually invited, it often comes with unreasonably short notice. As civil society, we must remain vigilant and ready to mobilise input.
Equally disturbing was the meagre 0.3% of the department’s budget allocated to land acquisition and redistribution. This is not reflective of a government that is serious about addressing land inequality. One member rightly asked: how can the government claim to take land reform seriously when it allocates more money to office rentals than to securing land rights for the poor?
From our position as observers, it is clear that the department is out of touch with the lived realities of rural people, especially women, who bear the brunt of landlessness, food insecurity, and evictions. Many of the key challenges we face on the ground, such as post-settlement support, tenure security, and lack of access to productive land, were mentioned, but not meaningfully addressed.
If there is one message to take from this meeting, it is that the current framework for land reform is fundamentally broken. Without a complete overhaul of priorities, without addressing the institutional instability, and without placing the needs of landless people at the centre, the promise of redistribution will remain just that, a promise.
As RWA and TCOE, we are committed to amplifying the voices of rural women and landless communities, and to holding those in power accountable. Land is not just a developmental issue, it is a question of justice, of dignity, and of historical redress. The time for cosmetic commitments is over. South Africa cannot afford another decade of inaction.
