The impact of the Covid-19 outbreak on the R270bn tourism sector has been devastating throughout the industry's value chain, however, there is an opportunity to speed up the recovery of the sector if government can speed up its very slow approval processes and put in place measures to ensure that land reform beneficiaries, especially in the tourism sector, have the much-needed technical and financial support.

2020 marked exactly 368 years since the displacement of indigenous people from their land following the colonisation of the country by the Dutch in 1652, and later the English and the Afrikaner nationalists.

South Africa continues to grapple with land reform challenges.

The agricultural sector continues to play a pivotal role as the engine of economic growth in many African countries. It is the main source of livelihood and employment.

The creation of a new, standalone ministry to oversee the implementation of land reform and spearhead rural development may be the resolution needed to put emphasis on the land restitution and redistribution programme and give impetus to what is needed to expedite the resolution of the land question and drive a successful land reform programme.

– Ever since the land reform programme was initiated in 1994, the hopes of communities forcibly removed from their ancestral land have been dampened by the slow progress of land restitution and redistribution. Despite government efforts, it is clear that state resources alone are insufficient to address the complex issue of land reform in South Africa.

More than three decades after the advent of democracy, land reform remains one of South Africa’s most pressing and emotive challenges — a powerful symbol of the country’s painful history of dispossession, but also a critical lever for building a more inclusive and economically empowered future.

: Land Reform - 2025 was the year that subjected the land reform programme to the most rigorous litmus test yet.

For too long, South Africa’s private sector has viewed land reform as either a government problem or a political risk best avoided. Scepticism, uncertainty and fear of reputational exposure have meant that only a handful of companies have meaningfully raised their hands to support land reform projects.