The Government is forging ahead to change the Constitution to allow for land expropriation without compensation.

Parliamentarians are greatly concerned that the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development has had to slice some R2.4 billion from its R16.8 billion budget.

Two weeks ago, City Press carried a depressing story on black farmers in Mpumalanga who stood to be removed from the state-owned land they were working.

Smallholders and family farms, Indigenous people, rural women, youth, and landless rural communities are being squeezed into increasingly smaller parcels of land or forced out entirely as global land inequality grows around the world, according to a new report.

For rural communities, land is crucial for providing families with housing, food, and security. Holding land is often associated with social status and higher income.

I want to start with a short note on present day inequality.