Land redistribution aims to give those most in need a chance to get land for housing and productive purposes. It caters for urban and rural areas and includes labour tenants, farm workers and people who want to start farming.

Land redistribution has been supported by a number of sub-programmes over the past 30 years. These include:

• Settlement Land Acquisition Grant (SLAG)
• Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development (LRAD), and
• Proactive Land Acquisition Strategy (PLAS)

The difference between these programmes is that the SLAG and LRAD land is transferred to the beneficiaries, while commonages and PLAS farms are transferred to government. SLAG and commonages also involve bigger groups of individuals and is aligned to poverty alleviation, whereas LRAD and PLAS focus on more economic growth where fewer people benefit.

Redistribution has changed in the last few years from buying land to transferring it to beneficiary groups in the form of Community Property Associations (CPAs) or families, to situations where the land is bought and transferred to black commercial farmers through LRAD or rented through PLAS for a lease period of 30 years.

Land redistribution has developed through the following programmes over the years:

• SLAG was implemented from 1995 to 2000, where land was provided to groups or families where the groups were funded to acquire land through a grant of R15 000, which was raised to R16 500 per family.
• LRAD Phase 1 was implemented from 2001 to 2007 where groups or individuals were assisted to acquire land through a grant ranging from R15 000 as a minimum, which could be extended by an own contribution of R5 000; or own labour, or in kind, up to R400 000 subsidy with the own contribution amounted to of R100 000.
• LRAD Phase 2 was implemented from 2008 to 2010 with more emphasis on individual farmers than groups, acquiring bigger farms and phasing out the loan component.
• PLAS has been implemented from 2010 to the present, where the government buys land and then identifies beneficiaries who will lease the farm as individuals or as a company for a limited lease period ranging from three to 30 years.

SETTLEMENT LAND ACQUISITION GRANT (SLAG)

You can use this grant to buy land or get secure tenure to land you already occupy. You can also use the grant for improvements like housing, water supply, sanitation, internal roads and fencing. The SLAG is up to the value of R16 500 provided to a single household to buy land (or equity in a farm business) from a ‘willing seller’, or to pay for infrastructure, fixed and moveable assets. transaction costs, home improvements and enhancement of tenure rights. Households earning a combined maximum income of R3 500 per month could apply for the grant either as an individual household or as part of a group of households (where the average household income is not more than R3 500 per month). Additional criteria to qualify for the SLAG include being a South African citizen, and not receiving any benefits from the housing subsidy scheme or any other state-funded or assisted housing subsidy.

WHO CAN GET A SETTLEMENT LAND ACQUISITION GRANT (SLAG)?

To qualify for the grant, you have to be a South African citizen living in a household where your combined income is less than R3 500 per month per applicant/ household. A household means a single adult older than 18 with dependants, or two adults with or without dependants. Households can apply individually or in a group. When households apply as a group, the average household income for the group must be less than R3 500 per month. It is important to understand that you will not automatically get a grant if you qualify. The following people could qualify for the grant:

• Landless people, especially women who need to settle in rural or urban areas
• Farmworkers and their families who want to improve their settlement and land tenure conditions
• Labour tenants and their families who want to get secure title to land they are living on and to improve it, or to get alternative land
• Residents who want to get secure title to the land they are living on
• Business people who want rural land for production, like farming or a shop
• People who get land through the land restitution programme
• People who lost land but are not covered by the Restitution of Land Act

SETTLEMENT PLANNING GRANT

The same people who qualify for a settlement grant also qualify for the Settlement Planning Grant. This grant is meant to assist poor communities in employing planners and other professionals to help them plan their settlement. It can cover services like legal fees, land use planning, and infrastructure planning. The money gets paid in two instalments to the professional: once the project proposal is complete, and once the detailed settlement plan is done. This grant is worked out as a portion of the R16 000 that each household in the settlement is entitled to. The amount that is paid to the professionals is deducted from each household’s R16 000.

HOW TO APPLY FOR A SETTLEMENT LAND ACQUISITION GRANT (SLAG) OR SETTLEMENT PLANNING GRANT

Contact your nearest office of the Department of Land Reform and Rural Development and fill in a registration of need form. When you apply as a group, you must elect a representative to make the application on your behalf.

LAND ACQUISITION GRANT FOR LOCAL AUTHORITIES

Many rural towns in South Africa have commonages. Long ago this was used by town people who did not have land to graze their animals or grow crops.

People had to pay a small fee to the local authority to use the commonage. As this practice fell away, the local authorities started to lease out their commonages, mostly to rich farmers who often paid very little for the land. The Land Acquisition Grant is to help local authorities buy land to create a commonage, or to add to the existing commonage, so that the poorer residents in the town can use it for grazing animals or planting crops.

If there is a need in your community to use a commonage, you must go to your local authority or the provincial Department of Land Reform and Rural Development and discuss this option with them. To qualify for this grant, your local authority must:

• Tell the Department of Land Reform and Rural Development how much they can contribute to buy the land
• Show the department their financial records
• Give a commitment that the land will be for the poorest residents to lease
• Give a list of all the people who will want to use the commonage
• Give a plan from the residents explaining how the land will be used

LAND REDISTRIBUTION FOR AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT (LRAD)

LRAD is a land redistribution programme managed by the Department of Land Reform and Rural Development Department of Land Reform and Rural Development. Through the programme, qualifying beneficiaries may qualify for a grant to help them buy land for agricultural purposes. It is a non-refundable form of funding to help people buy land. A formula is used to determine how much an individual will get. This formula is based on how much money or inputs the applicant will contribute, referred to as ‘total own contribution’. The grant will only work as a supplement to what the applicant already has and their own contribution. The money can be used to buy land or for land improvements, infrastructure, capital assets and short-term agricultural inputs.

How much is the LRAD grant?

LRAD grants vary from a minimum of R20 000 for a minimum contribution of R5000 (cash or labour), to a maximum of R400 000 for a minimum own contribution of R100 000. Between the minimum and maximum amounts, there is a scale of grant amounts, depending on the person’s own contribution. Your ‘own contribution’ can be existing agricultural assets that are necessary for the farm. But you cannot use land that was accessed through an earlier grant, restitution, tenure security grant, donation, etc as a form of ‘own contribution’.

Who can apply for a LRAD grant?

Individuals or groups can apply. These are the guidelines. You should

• Be a member of a previously disadvantaged group (i.e. African, Coloured or Indian)
• Be 18 years or older • Intend to use the land for agricultural purposes only
• Intend to farm on a full-time basis (except for safety-net projects)
• Neither be a civil servant or politician or hold any position within government structures
• Be prepared to participate in a training programme after land acquisition
• Be in a position to make your own contribution
• Be an individual or organised entity if applying as a group
• Have a bank account

PROACTIVE LAND ACQUISITION STRATEGY (PLAS)

PLAS is a land redistribution programme where the State buys land directly from the seller without first identifying a beneficiary and makes it available on a leasehold basis to selected beneficiaries.

The Department of Land Reform and Rural Development buys agricultural land directly, rather than giving grants to enable beneficiaries to buy land for themselves. Once the state has bought the land, it is then allocated to approved beneficiaries as a lease for three to five years. After this the person leasing the land may be given an option to buy the land. The Department selects the beneficiaries.

The PLAS programme aims to benefit households with limited or no land access, commercial smallholders with the potential to expand, and established black commercial farmers. PLAS authorises provincial officials to negotiate purchases directly with willing landlords based on estimated land needs.

ACCESS TO LAND IF YOU DO NOT HAVE LAND

The purpose of the land redistribution programme is to provide people with land for housing in urban and rural areas as well as land for farming purposes. The government realises that poor people cannot buy land at normal prices. The government will assist them in buying land using the land grants – and in that way speed up land reform. The government will make state land available and buy land from willing sellers on behalf of applicants. Expropriation, where the state forces the owner to sell, will only be a last resort.