BuaNews (Tshwane)
Michael Appel
3 September 2007
Pretoria — A panel of experts appointed to investigate the effects and extent of foreign land ownership in South Africa, have amongst others, recommended all potential property buyers disclose race, gender and nationality.
The Panel of Experts on the Development of Policy Regarding Land Ownership of Foreigners in South Africa was appointed in August 2004, due to uncertainty regarding how much land is owned by foreigners and its resulting impact on property markets.
The recommendations advise, amongst others, that all property owners - not only foreigners - be subject to Compulsory Disclosure Requirements.
The 10 member panel was chaired by Professor Shadrack Gutto, and tasked with gathering information on this issue, for the purpose of designing a policy and regulatory framework.
Speaking at the release of the panel's report and recommendations to the Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs, panellist Mandla Mabuza told media on Monday, the process of gathering the relevant information has been a great challenge.
"It has not been an easy process, this is a very complex subject as this is a very contentious issue," said Mr Mabuza.
"It is entirely up to the Department [of Agriculture and Land Affairs] in what it does in terms of possible legislation or policy framework," said Mr Mabuza.
Explaining some of the recommendations contained in the report, fellow panellist Professor Dirk Kotzé said the investigation itself took a lot longer than was initially expected.
"[One] of the difficulties we encountered [as part of our mandate was] in terms of trying to identify the nature of foreign ownership and the extent of foreign land ownership in South Africa," noted Mr Kotzé.
The panel's focus, he said, was firstly on the nature and extent of foreign ownership and also how it impacts on other forms of property ownership, with a focus on resulting property price escalations.
Foreign land ownership and its affect on the issue of land transformation in South Africa, was also probed.
"We looked at how ownership of residential, urban and rural agricultural land affects land reform in general," said Prof Kotzé.
He explained that Cabinet has instructed the panel to make the report and its recommendations open for the set 30 days of public scrutiny. The report has been published in the Government Gazette.
The general public can then provide the Panel with comments and feedback, whereafter the panel will finalise the report.
It was also recommended that Special Ministerial Approval be sought for certain changes in land use, especially if the changes impact negatively on land reform.
The establishment of a permanent Inter-Ministerial Oversight Committee was also suggested, to monitor trends in foreign ownership.
The panel called for the outright prohibition on foreign ownership in classified and protected areas, and also called for a Limited Temporary Moratorium of approximately two years prohibiting the disposal of state land to foreigners and also South Africans who do not qualify under national land reform policies.
The panel found fronting by land owners and businesses as an issue that can undermine Government's policy on land reform and regulation of foreign land ownership.
After visiting and studying land ownership policies in countries including Canada, Chile, Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore, England and Scotland, the panel concluded that Government "may consider medium and long-term leases of public land as a viable mechanism for future acquisition of land use by foreigners."
Whilst the report noted that about 1 percent of South Africa's privately owned land was in foreign hands, statistics on property ownership by foreign corporations are "incomplete and extremely difficult to collect and interpret."
The panel's previous report, released in mid-February 2006, did not attract much public comment.
The earlier version mentioned South Africans were of the opinion that foreign land ownership contributed significantly to the lack of readily available and affordable land for reform.
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