The government must be proactive in its land reform efforts and must release land which it owns, rather than expropriating property without compensation. This was according to Wandile Sihlobo, an agricultural economist and a member of the President’s Economic Advisory Council.
Sihlobo was speaking at a virtual launch of his book, Finding Common Ground.
Sihlobo said that a policy of expropriation without compensation would not be suitable for South Africa as the country’s agricultural sector is capital intensive. For the sector to grow it would need to attract capital, he said.
There were some nine million hectares of state land that could be given to people on long-term leases, according to Sihlobo. He also said that he believed that there was a growing realization in the industry that the issue of land reform had to be addressed, as the alternative would be ‘a lot of disruption’ in the sector.
He also noted that land reform was not only a rural issue, ‘but there is space for land reform in residential and industrial areas’.