Scores of people marched to Parliament in South Africa on Wednesday, demanding the release of state-owned land for housing. The march was a call to action for the government to provide updates on their applications for the release of 24 parcels of state-owned land. The activists had submitted formal applications for the land in the Western Cape, Gauteng, and KwaZulu-Natal three years ago.
The State Land Disposal Act gives the president the power to donate, sell, lease, or exchange any piece of public land in the country. In May 2024, President Cyril Ramaphosa instructed the ministers of human settlements and public works to investigate the demands. The Housing Development Agency (HDA) identified 12 sites as suitable for housing, but most of these sites remain vacant and undeveloped.
The activists, who marched to Parliament with placards reading “three years is enough” and “release our land now”, say the delay in releasing the land is a human rights violation. Luyanda Mtamzeli of Ndifuna Ukwazi told the crowd that marching to Parliament to get answers was a last resort. The activists had previously marched to the president’s residence in Cape Town, calling for him to release 32 parcels of state-owned land.
Lia Wells of the Surplus People Project said they had submitted an application in Clanwilliam for a collective of small-scale farmers in 2023. The HDA approved it, but there has been no movement since. Wells emphasized that the delay is not neutral and that it’s a human rights violation to leave communities with hope, but no institutional justice or administrative justice.
Housing Assembly secretary Asakhe Mzini emphasized the urgent need for housing, citing communities in Khayelitsha where people are living on wetlands. He said that during winter, people go to work and come home to find their houses floating. Mzini stressed that the issue of land is a serious issue and that it is their home.
Members of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements addressed the marchers outside Parliament. Sello Dithebe (ANC) said he had raised the issue at a committee meeting earlier that morning and that the committee was told that a technical working group on the matter had been set up.
The activists said in a statement that the government cannot ask communities to follow every rule of the process while ignoring its own obligation to communicate. They emphasized that communities have waited three years for an answer and should not have to wait a fourth.
Key points
- The delay in releasing state-owned land for housing is a human rights violation.
- The activists had submitted formal applications for 24 parcels of state-owned land three years ago.
- The HDA identified 12 sites as suitable for housing, but most of these sites remain vacant and undeveloped.
