The role of public participation in reviewing land redistribution policy in South Africa.

Abstract

The post-apartheid South African democratic Constitution of 1996 provides for extensive participation of the public in the legislative and policy-making processes. Involving the citizens in policy decision-making processes deepens democracy, promotes active citizenship and good governance. During the apartheid regime, the then government passed racial, discriminatory legislation and gave supremacy to the white population. The Apartheid system of government formulated land legislations and policies which prohibited black people from owning land in areas occupied by the white community. After 1994, the ANC-led government adopted legislation and policies that were non-racial, non-sexist and non-discriminatory. Among them was the land policy with its objective to redistribute land equitably to all South Africans. However, even after over 25 years of democracy, land redistribution in South Africa has progressed slowly. In February 2018, parliament made a call to review section 25 of the Constitution on land redistribution to allow land expropriation without compensation in the interest of the public, where it called for extensive participation of the public. Therefore, this study examined the role of public participation in reviewing land redistribution policy in South Africa. This was a purely qualitative approach that utilized desktop research and thematic content analysis to analyze the data collected. This study finds that the parliament of South Africa used public hearings, written and oral submissions as mechanisms to engage the public on whether section 25 of the Constitution on land redistribution should be reviewed or not to allow for expropriation of land without compensation in the interests of the public. The study finds that parliament received more than 700 000 written submissions made by the public. One issue that this study investigated was that about 65% of written submissions are not supporting the changing of section 25 of the Constitution. In comparison, 34% agreed on the amendment of the constitution, 1% was undecided on whether section 25 of the Constitution should be reviewed or not. This study recommended that if the majority of the public is opposing review of section 25 of the Constitution on land redistribution to allow mechanisms to expropriate land without compensation in the interest of the public, then the parliament must investigate what exactly is the impediment to slow progress of land redistribution in South Africa. This study further recommends that parliament draft, amend, and pass the land expropriation and land redistribution bill. It also recommended a review of the white paper on land redistribution policy since it shows slow progress to date.