By Themba Gadebe, (012) 312 2267

Johannesburg – Some delegates at the National Land Summit here have called for the establishment of a comprehensive land database to ensure proper land use.

This as provincial agriculture MECs made presentations at the five-day summit today on the resolutions taken during similar summits in their provinces.

The MECs said during their summits the auditing of land emerged as the common factor in terms of land redistribution.

Gauteng Agriculture MEC Khabisi Mosunkutu said the danger of not having proper data in this regard was that anyone could claim ownership of land illegitimately.

"We don't know who owns what, and we should be able to have such information, it is important," he said.

Mpumalanga agriculture MEC Madala Masuku told said information regarding who owned land to determine availability was important.

“We need to know people who are owning the land to determine the available land. We also need to know which land is of high potential, low potential and non-potential," he said.

This, he indicated would help in determining land use - whether for agricultural or other purposes.

He added that it would also help to know which land to protect from any form of exploitation. 

The provinces had another common factor, which was ownership of land by foreigners. For this reason, they urged the summit to come up with substantial measures to limit foreign ownership of land.

"A moratorium must be imposed on the sale of land to foreigners pending a comprehensive database on the ownership of land," Limpopo agriculture MEC Dikeledi Magadzi said. – BuaNews