S. Africa Plans to Help Blacks Buy Back Land

In a long-awaited initiative on a potentially explosive issue, the government Thursday proposed land reforms to remedy inequities between blacks and whites--and admitted it might decide to seize some land from whites.

Most of the reforms would be accomplished through a grant program that would give blacks money to buy land from whites, who own 87% of South Africa’s property but make up only 12% of the population, Land Affairs Minister Derek Hanekom said.

Expropriation would be only a “measure of last resort,” Hanekom added.

Between 1960 and 1980, 3.5 million blacks were forced off their land solely because of their race. Today, the average white farm is 2,200 acres, the average black farm about four acres.

“If we don’t deal with the problem, then we’re facing a problem of instability” Hanekom said, adding that land reform is urgent and unavoidable. But he set no target for how much land should be redistributed.

The issue drew hundreds of people to a suburban hotel and conference center where Hanekom presented his ministry’s policy draft, which will be discussed and modified over the next two months into a final government policy.

Henekom faced immediate skepticism from the country’s powerful white farming lobby.

“The term ‘redistribution’ . . . has a socialistic connotation,” said Jack Raath, executive director of the South African Agricultural Union.

Under the program, the government would redistribute public and private land to impoverished blacks who apply for it and restore land or otherwise compensate blacks who were dispossessed by discriminatory land laws under apartheid.

The plan suggests setting aside $115 million over the next two years to give black families grants up to $4,100 each to buy land.