9 December 2021
Statement by Executive Mayor Gesie van Deventer
The defeat of expropriation without compensation in Parliament this week is a victory for property rights. Stellenbosch Municipality is firmly committed to protecting and expanding property rights. Providing ownership to residents has been a key priority for me as Mayor since 2016.
Stellenbosch Municipality is at the forefront of expediting the transfer of title deeds to residents who have been neglected for too long. The processing and transferring of title deeds have been greatly accelerated through our partnership with the Khaya Lam Project of the Free Market Foundation. More than 2 200 deeds have been transferred to their rightful owners since 2016 and there are many more still to come. We remain committed and are working tirelessly on this project. We want to see more of our residents owning their own homes and not living as permanent tenants of the state. We also adopted a policy on the management of municipal agricultural land, which has enabled us to make any available municipal agricultural land available to emerging farmers, thereby ensuring just and equitable land reform, economic growth and food security.
Ownership brings with it security and acts as a passport to economic participation. This is something that Stellenbosch Municipality will always defend and expand. Just and equitable land reform can be achieved without the need to amend the Constitution.
I therefore welcome the news that the unwarranted Section 25 amendment to our Constitution has been defeated in the National Assembly. This is indeed a victory for all freedom-loving South Africans, in particular poor residents who deserve security of tenure.
[ENDS]
