ABSTRACT

An all-encompassing land reform programme was embarked on in South Africa during 1994 following the transition to a new political dispensation. The programme consists of three interconnected sub-programs, as provided for in the property clause (s. 25) of the South African Constitution (No 108 of 1996), namely the redistribution (s. 25(5)), tenure reform (s. 25(6)) and restitution (s. 25(7)) programs. The first one attempts to redress the inequitable distribution of land under the Apartheid regime, which resulted in 87 per cent of the land being held by the white minority. The second aims to convert the informal and insecure permit-based rights of the Apartheidera to more secure rights to land. The third has as its objective the restitution of land, or other compensation, for racially discriminatory dispossession.1