Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Patricia de Lille has provided an update to the Inter-Ministerial Committee for Land Reform on the land released to date by the sixth administration for human settlements, restitution and redistribution in support of the land reform programme.

The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) has released 2 556 ha of land – 44 parcels – to the Housing Development Agency for human settlement development purposes, as well as a further 17 land parcels, comprising 533 ha, for human settlement purposes.

Further, in support of infrastructure development, 15 ha – 11 land parcels – were approved for registration of servitude for roads, water, electricity and gas pipeline servitudes in the past financial year, De Lille says.

The DPWI has released a further 214 land parcels, measuring 30 277 ha for restitution. Last year’s target for restitution was 10 000 ha and this was substantively exceeded.

Additionally, the DPWI has released 25 549 ha of agricultural land – 125 parcels – for the Redistribution Programme, she adds.

"Land redress is one of the key drivers to address the spatial and socioeconomic imbalances in our country and ensuring that public land is used for public good. Provincial and local governments also own land that they are responsible to distribute for land reform programmes and must account for," De Lille says.

For the new financial year, the DPWI has planned for the release of 7 100 ha in various provinces for human settlements development purposes, 180 ha for socioeconomic purposes that will support power utility Eskom and the South African National Roads Agency Limited and 154 745 ha under land reform for restitution to support land ownership.

"This amounts to over 162 000 ha [that is] targeted for release by the DPWI nationally for the new financial year. For the 2022/23 financial year, of the 162 000 ha of land targeted for release, we have approved the release of four parcels of land for human settlements in KwaZulu-Natal province for residents affected by the flooding earlier this year, as well as 1 539.3 ha for land reform," De Lille notes.

"The need for land in our country is great and greater urgency needs to be put in by all spheres of government for this work of releasing land to achieve land reform and ensure that more public land is used for public good," she says.