2025 – The year land reform faced its ultimate test

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The promulgation of this Act has also, in certain quarters, fueled the already strained relations between South Africa and the United States government.

The Expropriation Act and its impact

The Expropriation Act of 2024 replaced the archaic 1975 Act and brought South Africa’s land reform policies in line with constitutional principles. It introduced a transparent expropriation framework that balances land reform with legal safeguards, clarified compensation principles, strengthened legal protections, and introduced the Expropriation Without Compensation (EWC) clause under specific conditions.

The promulgation of the Act was deeply polarising. Some political formations filed court applications to challenge its constitutionality, and the backlash reached the White House, where the Trump administration viewed it as evidence of arbitrary land appropriation along racial lines.

This political rhetoric has emboldened opposition to the land reform programme. On the international stage, false narratives, including claims of white genocide, have spooked potential investment and misrepresented the state’s intentions to address racially skewed land ownership patterns.

Despite these challenges, Minister Mzwanele Nyhontso committed to finalising and introducing the Equitable Access to Land Bill and the Communal Land Tenure and Administration Bill to Parliament. These measures aim to close legislative gaps and address constitutional obligations on land redistribution and communal land tenure rights. The Department of Land Reform and Rural Development indicated that the proposed legislation will be tabled for public comment during the first half of 2026.

Funding, progress, and institutional hurdles

In the 2025 Budget Vote, the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) was allocated R9.820 billion, with R6.168 billion earmarked for Land and Tenure Reform and Restitution. This includes R559m to acquire and allocate 44,000 hectares of land and a commitment to process long-outstanding labour tenant applications.

Despite over R52bn spent on land restitution, more than 5,700 claims lodged before the 1998 cut-off remain unresolved, with provinces such as KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, and Mpumalanga experiencing the heaviest backlogs. Agricultural economists note that redistribution is progressing faster than restitution or tenure reform. Reports show 2.545 million hectares held by the Proactive Land Acquisition Strategy programme, which must be transferred to qualifying Black South Africans with title deeds to facilitate finance access and private-sector partnerships.

Persistent challenges include reliance on manual systems, poor coordination between the Department, the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights, municipalities, and CPAs, inadequate post-settlement support, confused mandates, and a lack of consequence management for underperformance. These issues mirror findings from the 2017 Motlanthe Report and the Presidential Advisory Panel on Land Reform and Agriculture, with little evidence of resolution to date.

Looking ahead

While 2025 dealt the land reform programme a reputational blow through baseless narratives, the setback offers an opportunity to change the story via efficiency and transparency. Successful partnership-driven approaches, such as Vumelana’s Community Private Partnership, show how rural economies can be revitalised, jobs created, and entrepreneurship stimulated.

To scale these achievements, the state should accelerate commitments, including the establishment of the Agriculture and Land Reform Development Agency, address competency gaps identified in past reports, and implement the Motlanthe and DALRRD recommendations. Tailored solutions like the Communal Property Institution Support Programme and Transaction Advisory Support Programme have successfully provided post-settlement support and enabled private-community partnerships.

The ultimate test for the Expropriation Act lies in its implementation. Time will reveal how the provisions of this and the upcoming Equitable Access to Land Bill and Communal Land Bill are executed in practice.