South Africa has dedicated ZAR3.7 billion ($271 million) to help black farmers willing to buy lands and acquire property rights, Bloomberg indicated citing Tito Mboweni (photo), the country’s finance minister.

The minister revealed that in the next three fiscal years, ZAR1.7 billion ($121.5 billion) would be dedicated to 262 key land reform projects.

This announcement is made amid controversy raised by the land expropriation without compensation bill defended by president Cyril Ramaphosa.

While the bill supporters claim that it would correct injustice born from the apartheid, its critics point out the negative impacts it would have on the performance of the agriculture sector and on the whole economy by proxy.

Even though their opinions are divergent, the two parties agree that a land reform will be useful in South Africa. According to estimates, blacks make 81% of the country’s population but own 4% of overall lands while the white minority (8% of the overall population) own 72% of the lands.

Espoir Olodo