Deputy Speaker and hon members, this year marks the 100- year anniversary of the Natives Land Act, a piece of legislation which decreed that only certain areas of the country could be owned by black people. This led to a situation where the majority of citizens owned only 13% of the land, whilst the minority group owned the remaining 87%.
We are aware that since 1994 the government has, in an effort to implement effective redress through land restitution, transferred millions of hectares of land to people who were dispossessed under apartheid. Despite the major strides, the legacy of the Natives Land Act still lives on, as the majority of citizens of this country are still landless and have no access to land. Numerous challenges with the current land redistribution programme also entrench the legacy of this Act. Many beneficiaries of the land redistribution programme have been complaining about inadequate postsettlement support. This lack of support has led to a situation where some of them have had to sell back the land given to them by the government. For example, according to a media report, the Sunset Game Lodge outside Douglas, 100 km west of Kimberley was bought for R18 million by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries for the benefit of more than 100 women from the province. Due to a lack of postsettlement support, the women found themselves in a difficult position, where they could not run the farm and ended up selling it back to the previous owner, creating a vicious circle.
Another key hindrance to land redistribution and building a nonracist society are pro-rich housing developments. Every day golf estates and gated communities are developed, which give the rich access to the best land, while the poor have to make do with little or no land. Often the prices of the properties in these pro-rich settlements are inflated in order to keep the majority of South Africans out of the market. For example, in the media report, there is a steel magnate who bought a flat in Clifton, here in Cape Town, for R198 million as a gift for his daughter - a flat for R198 million. The question now remains: How does one reverse the legacy of the Act when people charge exorbitant prices for properties, prices that most South Africans cannot afford to pay?
This is sadly the case in all too many pro-rich settlements around the country, and this needs to be stopped. If this is not unjustified enrichment, then there is no such thing as unjustified enrichment. These challenges, among others, require urgent attention if we are to ensure that government reaches its land redistribution target and that we build a racially integrated society. I thank you. [Applause.]