Cape Town - Land restitution still remains "a complex and emotive issue," says Rural Development and Land Reform Minster Gugile Nkwinti.
The issue was more "emotional than land redistribution because there is an attachment to that moment they (apartheid victims) were removed forcefully," he said.
The minister addressed the media on this and several other matters on Tuesday following his Budget Vote in Parliament.
Nkwinti emphasized that improving "service delivery in this programme was not an option - it's a must," adding that "many claimants had died while waiting for the day their claims would have come through."
His department had used every opportunity to apologise on behalf of the "President and government" to affected families.
"Our people have heartily appreciated this gesture ... but we cannot take this goodwill from our people for granted.
"We must respond in kind. The department has taken a strategic decision to prioritise financial compensation and state land while at the same time, raising the tempo on solving the more intricate land claims," he said.
Only R2 billion has been set aside for land claims, he said, indicating that they would be approaching the National Treasury with the "view of re-priorising allocations between restitution and redistribution."
"It has become clear in our minds that this programme is not about to be concluded in the next few years.
"This realisation has forced the department to reconsider its strategy. It has got to actively engage with all stakeholders, current land owners and claimants, to work out a mechanism which would ease the pressure in this regard," he said.
His deputy Thulas Nxesi, who accompanied Nkwinti at the briefing, added that the land question was "sensitive" on both sides of the dispossessed and beneficiaries of the apartheid system.
While counseling against land invasion, Nxesi said some people were becoming impatient as they wondered when their land claims would be settled.
Nxesi cautioned that if people get frustrated with the slow pace of the process "they will say this is our land, we will take it."
Nkwinti said they needed R40 billion to cater for land restitution and government did not have the money.
