CAPE TOWN, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The South African government is intensifying the implementation of its land reform and restitution programs so that South Africans can leverage land for the betterment of their lives and the growth of the economy, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Sunday.
"It is our firm belief that communities must take great interest in their land restitution processes and be active participants in all enterprises and activities taking place on their land," Ramaphosa said.
He was speaking at a ceremony marking the restitution of land to a black community in KwaZulu-Natal Province.
The handover of 4,586 hectares of land to the KwaMkhwanazi community came at a time when the attention of South Africa is focused on the effort to correct the original sin of land dispossession, Ramaphosa said.
"This is the first of a number of land claims that we aim to unlock over the next few months," said Ramaphosa.
The KwaMkwanazi community was forcibly removed from their land during the apartheid era. In recent years, the affected community submitted claims for the return of land administered by the King Cetshwayo District Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal.
The community's successful claim sees 1,656 claimants regain ownership of their ancestral land.
"We are making history and celebrating the return of your land today," Ramaphosa said.
KwaMkwanazi is a beacon of hope for communities who may over time have grown despondent or impatient as they await the realization of a fundamental human right, said Ramaphosa.
He promised that the government will assist the locals with post-settlement packages that will develop their ability to create sustainable income and jobs from the land transferred to the community.
"When we work together, we are able to dislodge from our society the deeply embedded injustices and damage of centuries of colonialism and decades of apartheid," Ramaphosa said.
In his maiden State of the Nation Address in February, Ramaphosa pledged to accelerate the land redistribution programs not only to redress a grave historical injustice, but also to bring more producers into the agricultural sector and to make more land available for cultivation.
"If we could end apartheid rule in the way we did, we have it within us to return our people to the land, as we are proving here today," Ramaphosa said at Sunday's ceremony.
It will be impossible for one section of the population to live in prosperity and peace while millions of citizens live in conditions of poverty, unemployment and underdevelopment, he said.
This government is resolute in its commitment to returning the land in an orderly and lawful manner, the president said.
"We shall not allow illegal land occupations," he reiterated in an apparent bid to alleviate fears that the ongoing land reform, characterized by land expropriation without compensation, will drive away white farmers, kill jobs and threaten food security.
No one should exploit the challenges facing landless communities to foment lawlessness and tension in the country, he added.
