Pretoria - The Portfolio Committee on Rural Development and Land Reform will this week embark on a countrywide public consultation process on the Restitution of Land Rights Amendment Bill.
The consultation will afford interested persons and stakeholders to make comments and inputs on the legislation.
The legislation seeks to amend the cut-off date for lodging claims for restitution; make provision for the advertisement of claims and regulate the appointment of the Land Claims Court Judge.
This long-awaited process will lead to the second phase of land claims and restitution to allow all people and communities that were dispossessed of their land, as a result of 19th June 1913 Native Land Act, to lodge their claims through the Land Claims Commission.
This includes those who missed the deadline of the first lodgement phase (31st Dec 1998).
The first round of public hearings will commence on Thursday, 7 November, until Friday, 22 November 2013 in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Mpumalanga. The rest of the provinces will be visited at the beginning of 2014. - SAnews.gov.za
