CAPE TOWN, July 5 (Xinhua) -- The South African government said on Thursday that it has appointed a ministerial team to address concern over land expropriation without compensation.
The team will interact with traditional leaders to discuss and seek an amicable solution to their areas of concern, according to a statement issued after a fortnightly cabinet meeting in Pretoria.
The Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Zweli Mkhize, is the convener and is supported by Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Senzeni Zokwana, Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane and Communications Minister Nomvula Mokonyane, acting cabinet spokesperson Phumla Williams said.
As the pace for land reform is gaining momentum, traditional leaders have voiced concern over the possibility of the land owned by tribal chiefs to be redistributed to landless blacks.
Traditional leaders control 13 percent of communal land in South Africa, while most of the land is still in the hands of the white minority.
The ruling African National Congress (ANC) reportedly wants to include land controlled by local chiefs in its plans to redistribute property to the black majority.
Earlier this week, Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini convened a meeting to discuss the government's land-expropriation plans. Zwelithini has in the past accused the government of trying to take land from his people.
This came as Parliament's Constitutional Review Committee was conducting public hearings countrywide on the land issue. These public hearings will take place in all the nine provinces until August 2018.
The government calls on all interested parties to participate peacefully in these hearings and appeals to the public to remain tolerant of varying views that may be expressed, in order to ensure that all have a fair opportunity to participate in the hearings, Williams said.
In February this year, the National Assembly passed a motion on expropriation of land without compensation.
The motion allows for the review of Section 25 of the Constitution and other clauses where necessary to sufficiently cater for the principle of land expropriation without compensation.
