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Cape Town: South Africa has shelved a controversial bill aimed at speeding up a land reform programme seeking to distribute 30 per cent of its land to black farmers by 2014, an official said on Wednesday.
Land restitution is a racially sensitive issue in South Africa, troubled by the decline in agriculture in neighbouring Zimbabwe, where white commercial farmers were often violently evicted by President Robert Mugabe's government.
"The portfolio committee on public works has shelved the expropriation bill until further notice," said a statement by Thandi Tobias-Pokolo, who chairs the committee.
She said the decision was taken because of a lack of proper consultation but she added the committee hoped it would be reintroduced to parliament.
So far, only 4 percent of the intended 30 percent land has been distributed.
Opposition parties, farmer bodies and other civic groups believe South Africa's plan to seize land will be similar to Zimbabwe's land grabs, which disregarded property rights and contributed to the country's economic collapse.
Farmers also fear future compensation for their farms would be for less than the market value. Officials say mainly white farmers, who blame bureaucratic shortcomings for slow progress, have stalled the land reform programme by demanding excessive prices.
The Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs has suggested extending the 2014 deadline to 2025, projecting a funding shortfall of 74.5 billion rand by 2014 if it succeeded in transferring about 34 million hectares (or 30 per cent).
An official website projected it would cost 94 billion rand ($11.79 billion) to transfer 30 per cent of the land by 2014.
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