Land must be used to transform lives, minister tells claimants

Land is sacred. It should be used to produce job opportunities, food and contribute to the economy of the country. With those words, land reform and rural development minister Mzwanele Nyhontso warned a group of land claimants from Ntshamathe in Mbizana who recently received title deeds, not to dare think about selling their restored land.

Instead, he wants to see them use it to lure investors and develop themselves. Speaking during the title deed handover on Friday, Nyhontso said: “We [government] must not give you land to produce food and sustain yourselves and then you build shacks on it instead. “When we give you farms for production, you turn us into a laughing stock when you allow those farms to collapse and take the money from the government and buy cars.

“Now there are misconceptions that black South Africans do not know how to use the land productively. “The land should create jobs, produce food and contribute to the revenue. “This is your opportunity as the people of Ntshamathe to use the title deeds to try to lure investors into this area.” Among those who joined Nyhontso for the ceremony were agriculture MEC Nonceba Kontsiwe and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Local Municipality mayor Daniswa Mafumbatha.

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The Ntshamathe community was reportedly forcibly dispossessed of its land in 1920 and again in 1976. The land not only held significant agricultural value but also contained natural resources that formed the core of the community’s livelihoods.

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