In 2010 the government introduced the Land Tenure Security Bill which was intended to replace both ESTA and the Labour Reform (Labour Tenants) Act. In doing so the government acknowledged that ESTA had not been effective in preventing farm evictions.

The Land Tenure Security Bill, if enacted, would provide for the continued protection of the rights of people living and working on farms. It would provide a support framework for sustainable livelihoods for farm workers that would, (amongst other things) address the need for sustained food production and state assistance in the settlement on alternative land. Importantly the Bill would ensure there is a clear legal distinction between the rights of farm dwellers as employees and their rights as occupants.

People who the new law would cover include those living and working on farms and those associated with them, as well as farm owners and their agents. The Bill addresses the rights of these stakeholders.

The Land Tenure Security Bill will also provide a framework for the following:

• The management of evictions
• Expropriation
• The management of resettlement units and agri-villages
• The establishment of a land rights management board
• Dispute resolution

In mid-2011 the Bill was sent back to the Department of Land Reform and Rural Development for reconsideration after stakeholders representing both farm owners and farm dwellers raised a range of concerns.