Opinion: Before Government Takes More Land, It Must Free the Land It Already Holds

South Africa’s land-reform debate is loud, emotional and politically charged — yet one uncomfortable truth sits quietly in the middle of it all: the state is already sitting on millions of hectares of land that never actually reached the people.

Since 1994, government has acquired roughly 20 million hectares through restitution and redistribution. Much of that land did not go to new black owners. Instead, it simply moved from white hands into the hands of the state.

Beneficiaries were not given title deeds, they were given 30-year leases. They can work the land, but they cannot own it, invest confidently in it, or use it as collateral. The result is predictable: under-funded farmers, stalled projects, and vast stretches of fertile land lying idle.

Before government talks about expropriating more land, it must answer a simpler question: What happened to the land it already controls? 02/12/2025