The Land Rights Amendment Bill empowers the Minister of Land Affairs to purchase, acquire in any other manner or expropriate land for restitution.
"What we got here is a strict law, expropriation is serious business and we do realise that, but it is also a very fair law and a very just law,' the Deputy Minister said.
Chairperson of the Select Committee on Land and Environmental Affairs Peter Moatshe said the main purpose of the Bill was to fast-track land claims.
Reverend Moatshe told members that access to land was a source of survival for South Africans, especially those living in rural areas. "In future therefore our minister will not have to reach an agreement with relevant landowners or obtain a court order to expropriate land,” Moatshe added.
The Committee chairperson asked the NCOP to consider those people who were initially sceptical of the land restitution process.
He said they had failed to lodge claims with the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights before the cut off date on 31 December 1998.
"Because they did not believe that our government would deliver on its promises, they did not lodge their claims," he said.
He reminded NCOP members that the Land Rights Amendment Bill allowed legal recourse for landowners who were dissatisfied with a decision made by the Minister of Land Affairs.
"It prevents unnecessary delays on the process of restitution by co-operative landowners," he said. – BuaNews.
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