A path of accelerating land reform in South Africa

Delivering the ANC's January 8th Statement a few weeks ago, President Cyril Ramaphosa noted, amongst other things, that: “Land reform remains one of the most urgent tasks of the National Democratic Revolution. While progress has been made, much more is required to give effect to the constitutional requirement for redress and equitable access to land.”

- Wandile Sihlobo

Ramaphosa further stated: “Key tasks include strengthening support for land reform beneficiaries, accelerating the processing of outstanding restitution claims, and resolving disputes more efficiently.”

To give effect to these matters, the president highlighted that the starting point should be a sharper focus on ensuring that the Department of Land Reform and Rural Development is working effectively. Any close observer of the land matters in South Africa will agree that the department has, quite frankly, been dismal in 2025. The optimism that some progress would happen, which some had in the years before, dwindled.

It also didn't help that we didn't see any meaningful progress on land reform beyond a few high-level policy statements that sought to spark more conversation than implementation.

I am focusing on implementation because, while we can all agree that there is much more work to be done on various land reform programmes in the years to come, the government has a starting point.

RELEASING GOVERNMENT LAND