The Vumelana Advisory Fund, a not-for-profit organisation that supports land reform beneficiaries to put their land to productive use, has welcomed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) delivered last Thursday, while expressing concern that land reform was not identified as a priority.
Peter Setou, Chief Executive of the Vumelana Advisory Fund said, “It is regrettable that land reform was not mentioned as a priority area and appears to have been relegated to the periphery, when in fact it should be a priority given the drastic, systemic slowdown in land reform.”
Setou said, “Vumelana maintains that land reform should be a primary focus of the administration rather than an afterthought.”
He highlighted that, “We need to achieve scale in supporting more land reform beneficiaries to put their land to productive use. As we look ahead to the Budget Speech, we are hopeful for a robust financial commitment to land reform to truly drive an empowering land reform programme that is well resourced to break through current bottlenecks and turn stagnant policies into the lived reality of the promise of land reform for South Africans.
“The priority for 2026 must be the execution of existing policies and addressing shortcomings already identified in several government-commissioned reports, including the High-Level Panel report, commonly known as the Motlanthe Report,” he said.
Economic resilience hampered by slow reform
Vumelana noted that while there are signs of economic improvement, with the agriculture sector in particular showing signs of resilience, the slow pace of land reform, coupled with the failure to develop or improve infrastructure in rural areas, is threatening long-term investment in rural areas and has a spiralling effect on joblessness.
Setou said, “The focus for 2026 should be a shift from policy debates to the implementation of existing policies and addressing some of the shortfalls that have been aptly defined through a number of reports commissioned by government itself, such as the Motlanthe Report.”
According to Setou, there is a need for a much quicker, better-coordinated and measurable approach to ensure sustainable land reform.
“The outlook further demands transparent and evidence-based interventions to deal with the challenges impacting successful land reform. Closer collaboration between sector players and other key stakeholders is key to avoiding the repetition of past mistakes,” Setou said.
He added that sustainable land reform is a constitutional imperative. It also remains one of the key interventions that can ensure restored land is put to productive use and that jobs are created, particularly in rural areas, if implemented correctly.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of African Farming.
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