Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - June 29, 2004

The HRC, tasked by the Constitution to advance social and economic rights, released its Economic and Social Rights 5th Report 2002/2003 last week. The commission's annual report assesses the measures state organs have taken to realise the commitment made in the Bill of Rights concerning housing, health care, food, water, social security, education and the environment.

Mbeki set the land restitution goal during his State of the Nation address last month, in which he set delivery targets for almost all ministries.

The Department of Land Affairs still has to process about 27 000 land restitution claims. It has processed about 48 000 claims in the past 10 years.

In its report the HRC comments: "Generally land reform in South Africa has remained slow and targets have yet to be met. This is mainly because land is scarce, and where it is available, it tends to be expensive.

"The concern remains that with minimal budget allocation for restitution, compared with level and amount of work, the determination and intent to meet the president's directive will not be realised.

"Although there have been a significant number of settled claims to date, restoration remains slow, with restored land amounting to approximately 2% of South Africa's total land area."

The HRC's doubt is echoed by the National Land Committee (NLC), which believes the department does not have the resources to meet its targets. The NLC estimates about R13-billion is needed; but the department currently operates with a budget of only R2-billion.

However, the NLC said an important hurdle had been cleared now that the minister has powers to expropriate land from unwilling farmers.

But national land claims commissioner Tozi Gwanya said that meeting the presidential target should not be a problem. "Most of the 27 000 claims are urban claims, which are easier to settle. We want to settle all those urban ones by March next year.

"The 6 000 rural claims involve private land and state land. Farmland is quite expensive, but there is unnecessary focus on our ability to pay. We are instead focusing on striking agreements between land claimants, the landowner and the government. Once you do that, then payment can be phased in."

Gwanya said there are about five or six cases where the minister might have to expropriate the land because of farmers who not only asked for outrageous prices but also wanted to assess the validity of land claims.

The HRC's other findings include:

The HRC finds an overall increase in access to education, but says the education department must ensure that parents and principals understand their rights so that children are not turned away because of unpaid fees.

But the state faces challenges in allowing for improved spending on adult basic education and training because about 4,5-million aged between five and 24 do not have an education and about four million people have primary schooling only.

The report finds that many people, and children in particular, had their right to food violated during the reporting period because they lost access to affordable food owing to high prices and/or unreasonable plans devised and supervised by the government. But nutritional deficiencies rank 11th (1,6%) among causes of death compared with HIV/Aids, which ranks highest at 39%.

The Human Rights Commission report in brief

Water: Marginalised groups face inferior access to water, discrimination, higher prices, greater chances of using contaminated water and inadequate sanitation.

Social security: The number of social assistance beneficiaries increased by 966 311 people from April 2002 to the end of March 2003. The Basic Income Grant should be considered a viable option to address poverty.

Health: The health care system has not been able to successfully deliver quality health on an equitable basis in all the provinces.

Environment: There should be a quantum shift in focus towards implementation of measures to further the right of vulnerable groups to environment in a more decentralised way.

Food. The report determines that the state absorbed the heavy burden of duty to achieve the progressive realisation of the right to food as expeditiously as possible.

Education. The report emphasises that more needs to be done to address infrastructure backlogs, especially when it comes to water and sanitation.

Housing. The report recommends the establishment of a dedicated fund for acquiring well-located land for low-cost housing.

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