State to move fast on land bill - minister

Cape Town - The regulation of land holdings bill should be processed by parliament and signed into law this year which will place a maximum ceiling on agricultural land holdings for both legal and natural persons, Minister of Rural Development and Land Affairs Gugile Nkwinti said at a briefing at parliament on Tuesday.

Nkwinti said the government’s 50/50 policy framework - where workers would take ownership of half of farms - would be implemented “immediately”. Government has received a number of proposals from commercial farmers and would pilot at least 50 projects “during this term”, he told journalists.

He repeated the announcement in President Jacob Zuma’s Stae of the Nation speech that future ownership of agricultural land by foreign nationals would be prohited.