Land Matters and Rural Development: 2021

Abstract

While the report period was dominated by the review process of the property clause, aimed at enabling the expropriation of land for land reform purposes at nil compensation, various other important developments occurred in 2021, dealing with land. Included herewith was the publication of various bills, dealing inter alia, with the Land Court and housing-related matters; the publication of the long-awaited Upgrading of Land Rights Amendment Act, as well as the handing down of critical judgments within the domains of redistribution, tenure reform and restitution respectively. Given that the review process did not result in an amended property clause, the underlying difficulties in land reform continue to be addressed holistically under the extant, unchanged section 25 of the Constitution.