Hon Speaker, hon Deputy President, Ministers, and colleagues in the House, a central feature of the Land Reform Programme has been the acquisition of land on the basis the of willing-buyer, willing- seller principle; a demand-driven and market-base model predominantly based upon the historical value at the time of dispossession. Through this programme, government has set a target of delivering 30% of commercial agricultural land, about 25 million hectares, by 2015.
To date only a quarter of the 30% target has been reached. The escalation of land prices has been among the main challenges, which have significantly contributed to the slow pace of land redistribution. This had raised questions about the efficacy of the market-based land reform system and the government's ability to participate therein without influencing the market and, thus, land prices. The experience in implementing the Land Reform Programme since 1994's democratic breakthrough shows that there has been slow progress regarding land redistribution.
Faced with this situation, the ANC, at both its 52nd National Conference in 2007 and the 53rd National Conference in 2012, characterised what needed to be done as follows: Land reform must represent a radical and rapid break from the past without significantly disrupting agricultural production and food security; the resources of the state must be mobilised to reverse the human and material conditions of those displaced by previous land policies; and the equitable allocation of the use of land across class, race and gender must be ensured.
The central pillars of an ANC programme of rural development, land reform and agrarian change is based on the following: firstly, the provision of social and economic infrastructure and the extension of government services; secondly, the fundamental changes in the patterns of land ownership to the redistribution of land as part of the deracialisation of the rural economy; thirdly, the agrarian transformation with production discipline so as to support subsistence food production; expanding the role of productivity from modern smallholder farming and maintaining a vibrant agricultural sector; and changing the patterns and modes of ownership of production.
Informed by this, the ANC-led government has therefore focused on the realisation of the constitutional injunction, as per section 25(5) of the Constitution of the Republic of SA, that:
The state must take reasonable legislative and other measures, within its available resources, to foster conditions which enable citizens to gain access to land on an equitable basis.
The willing-buyer, willing-seller approach has constrained the pace of land reform due to the fact that the market is unable to effectively alter the patterns of land ownership in favour of an equitable and efficient distribution of land. The ANC is resolute that replacing the existing system with a just and equitable constitutional principle, where the state is acquiring land for land reform purposes, remains the only viable solution to deal with challenges of land reform.
The ANC policy position, which has informed this Bill, proposes the institution of a land valuation service which includes the Office of the Valuer-General. Land is a fundamental feature of ownership and control. The setting up of institutions to regulate land use, standardise land valuations and normalise land use and distribution is vital. In this context, the Office of the Valuer-General is central.
What is the problem statement that this Bill has to address? Firstly, the country lacks a comprehensive and reliable, collated set of property values which in itself raises very serious questions of overpricing. Secondly, until this Bill there has been an absence of a legislative framework to determine when market value is one of the variables in determining value as opposed to being the only criterion. Thirdly, there has been a history of conflict of interest and malpractice. Lastly, the approach of valuation has been unhistorical and mechanical.
The Bill, therefore, in addressing this problem statement, provides a framework for fair and consistent land values. It provides for determining financial compensation in cases of land expropriation, and it sets norms, standards and guidelines to validate the integrity of valuation data. In the context of land restitution, this Bill is essential. In order to deal with the challenges outlined, new legislation was required to: give effect to the provisions of the Constitution; provide for land reform and land restitution; and facilitate land reform and land restitution through the valuation of property. The Property Valuation Bill was developed to meet these challenges.
The Bill provides for the establishment, functions and powers of the Office of the Valuer-General, which will provide a compulsory valuation service in respect of property that has been identified for land reform, as well as a voluntary valuation service to departments for the acquisition or disposal of property. The Office of the Valuer-General will also play a major role in providing a regulatory service which will entail the setting of criteria and procedures for valuations as well as the monitoring of valuations to ensure compliance.
What is clear is that we cannot continue with the situation wherein the price of land is artificially set at a very high level, taking advantage of the government's efforts of redistributing land. The ANC seeks to avoid redistribution and restitution that will not generate forms of farming with aggregate net benefits in the pursuit of agrarian transformation in terms of livelihood, employment and incomes. For the ANC, a clear purpose of both redistribution and restitution will be to continue offering the landless the best prospects of access to land for productive use in order to improve their income and quality of life.
Let me now turn to what is likely to be said by particular political parties in this debate. The notion from these parties will relate to constitutional issues, and they will even make threats of what they intend doing. Section 25(1) of the Constitution states:
No one may be deprived of property except in terms of law of general application, and no law may permit arbitrary deprivation of property. On constitutional legal advice, this clause cannot impede the state from taking legislative and other measures to achieve land, water and related reforms in order to redress the injustices of the past, provided that any departure from the provision of this section is in accordance with section 36(1) of the said Constitution, which states:
The rights in the Bill of Rights may be limited only in terms of law of general application to the extent that the limitation is reasonable and justifiable in an open and democratic society based on human dignity, equality and freedom ...
For that matter, the Constitution, in section 25(3) allows payment of compensation for property acquired in the public interest by the state on a basis other than compensation to market values. It does not give market value any priority over other factors, nor does it imply that it must be the entry point for the calculation of compensation. Let us ensure that we ground our arguments on what the Bill as an expression of policy ensures, and not on what our subjective emotions may desire.
The material conditions of people and the historical circumstances that have necessitated the ANC to intervene in order to improve the living conditions of the people is the prime objective of this Bill. [Interjections.]