Land Tax Act 1936 (sa)

[Elisabetta Buendia]

The Land Tax Act 1936 requires that a review be undertaken on the operation of land tax measures that were introduced in South Australia's 2018-19 Budget, 2019-20 Budget and 2019-20 Mid-Year Budget Review.

The Land Tax Act 1936 requires that a review be undertaken on the operation of land tax measures that have been introduced, with a report to be prepared and tabled in the South Australian Parliament by the Treasurer.

After the end of the South African War, the British and Afrikaners began working on establishing the Union of South Africa, which was accomplished in 1910. However, black people were excluded from meaningful political participation in its formation and future. The British and Afrikaner land owners and industrialists set in motion a process that would consolidate their wealth while excluding Black people through legislative means.

The Glen Grey Act was passed in 1894, a year that saw the completion of the annexation of the Transkei and Pondoland. The district of Glen Grey was located partly in Queenstown and partly in the Wodehouse divisions of the Cape Colony. It had numerous valleys which were suitable for agriculture and grazing livestock. Colonial settlers were only partially successful in seizing the land for occupation and the district remained largely in the hands of Africans. In 1879 the land was proclaimed as a magisterial district set aside for missionary and railway use, and as farmland for whites and Africans. White famers resented African ownership of the land and demanded that it be taken from them. They argued that Africans, the Thembu in particular, had forfeited their right to the land when they fought against the colonial government.

Parliamentarians were vexed with the question of African land tenure and labour since the 1880s. In 1892 a Commission was appointed to inquire into the Glen Grey land ownership among other things. The report concluded that the land belonged to the Thembu people, and that each family owned 55 and half morgen* of land agricultural purposes and as grazing pastures.

The Commission recommended that individual ownership of land that is limited to one family was desirable. This would force the surplus or excess number of people out to labour and prevent the influx of new African people into the area.

For instance, Victor Sampson, a farmer and an election candidate for Tembuland sponsored by Afrikaner Bond complained about the overpopulation of Africans in areas where they stayed and that African locations took away labour from the White owned farms. He recommended the restructuring of land ownership as a way of controlling the African population. This, he explained, would be done by giving every existing head of the family individual ownership to a surveyed plot of land and selling what remained to the Whites.

The Glen Grey Act also implemented provisions to limit the number of Africans who qualified for the franchise. From 1852 when the Cape Constitution was promulgated and it provided for colour blind franchise based on ownership and occupation and of property whether separately or jointly with any land amongst other qualifications. Growing political awareness among Africans clearly worried the colonial government. When British Kaffaria (former Ciskei area) was annexed in 1865, the racial balance was tilted in favour of Africans who came to constitute 55% of the population while Whites had 25% and Coloureds had 20%. Furthermore, there was an increase in the registration of Africans as voters between 1882 and 1886. Whites, particularly the Afrikaners who were viewed with deep suspicion by Africans, qualifying to vote became concerned as this had political implications for their candidates. As a measure to curtail this growing African influence, the Parliamentary Voters Registration Act was passed in 1887. Under the Act land held under communal tenure was discounted as a qualification to register for the franchise. This disqualified a significant number of Africans in the Cape Colony as land was held under tribal or communal tenure particularly in the Transkei and Cape.

The Glen Grey Act systematically limited the number of African people who could live on and own their own land. It also pushed those who were deemed unqualified to acquire land - to leave the area and look for work in farms or other forms of employment outside the Glen Grey District.

In Natal, the Zululand Land Delimitation Commission was appointed in August 1902 to investigate and make recommendations on demarcations of land between Whites and Africans in Zululand. The commission submitted its report in October 1904 and recommended that 40% of the best and fertile land be reserved for White occupation as of January 1906. Africans who had became labour tenants on White farms of were removed to the remaining areas that had been declared as reserves.

In the Orange River Colony, a Commission on Natives and Native Affairs was also established and presented its report in 1909. Coloured people and Africans could not own property outside the reserves. The commission rejected the idea of creating more reserves as that would result in people crowding the new reserves sparking a shortage of labour. It further stated there was no land available for that purpose in the Orange River Colony, and condemned share cropping while recommending the strict enforcing of the Masters and Servants Ordinance.

The Native Land Commission was proclaimed in August 1913. Sir William Beaumont, a former administrator in Natal and Supreme Court judge, was appointed as its head. The commission, which also became known as the Beaumont Commission, began its work on 8 September 1913. The commission was granted two years to accomplish its work and submit a report which would then be used to demarcate land. It was tasked with investigating the availability of land and defining boundaries for permanent territorial segregation between black and white people. The two basic questions were:

In simple, the primary purpose of the Commission in answering these questions was to find land within South Africa and divide it between Black and White people with legal boundaries to regulate its ownership. Between 1913 and the submission of its report in March 1916, the Beaumont Commission went around the country outlining boundaries and recommending which areas were to be allocated to White people and which one were to be allocated to Black people.

When the commission filed its findings, it recommended a limited increase in African areas. However the final decision was left to each province of the Union. All provinces except the Cape reduced area originally recommended by the committee. However, this was not implemented until 1936.

Immediately after the passing of the Land Act, White farmers began issuing notices of eviction to Black people. R.W. Msimang documented some of these notices in his book Natives Land Act 1913, Specific Cases of Evictions and Hardships etc. The position of African farmers was weakened further when the government began to offer low-interest loans to White farmers. These loans enabled White farmers to make improvements to their farms and buy agricultural machinery. They could now farm directly on land which had previously been allocated to sharecroppers. By 1936, nearly half of the African workers in towns had migrated from White farms.

African farmers who owned land inside and outside the reserves did not receive any aid from the government in the form of loans. They therefore found it increasingly difficult to compete with White farmers who could use improved methods and expand their farms.

Also in May 1913 the SANNC sent a deputation to Jacobus WilhelmusSauer to persuade him to not proceed with the bill which would make Africans squatters and render them homeless. The deputation received no favourable response. Afterwards, Walter Rubusana wrote to the Governor General Gladstone asking him to withhold his support for the bill. His response was that it was not within his constitutional functions to do so.

On 25 July 1913, after the Land Act was passed, the SANNC convened a conference in Johannesburg and resolved to raise funds that would be used to send a delegation to Britain which would appeal to the Imperial government against the Act. Officials in the Department of Native Affairs requested the SANNC not to proceed with their appeal, but the SANNC resisted these attempts.

Then on 14 February 1914, the SANNC met and chose five members to go to London-- John L Dube, Dr Walter Rubusana, Saul Msane, Thomas Mapikela and Solomon T Plaatje. The delegation left for London and upon arrival met missionaries and members of the Aborigines Protection Society. They later met Lewis Harcourt, the Secretary for the Colonies, and issued a petition to the king. Harcourt advised them to take their case to Parliament and not to the Crown. The British government did not intervene and consequently the Land Act was not reversed.

The Uniform Civil Court Rules 2020 commenced on 18 May 2020 for civil legal proceedings in the Magistrates, District and Supreme Courts of South Australia.The Uniform Civil Rules 2020 apply to proceedings commenced, or a step in a proceeding taken, on or after 18 May 2020. The previous Court Rules continue to govern a step in a proceeding taken before 18 May 2020.

This section deals with accidents and injuries that occur on property - whether private or public. Private land includes private homes and gardens, cinemas and shopping centres. Public land is land owned by the Crown (that is, the Commonwealth or State Government or a statutory body) to which the public has access, such as public roads, parks and government offices.

When someone is injured by something dangerous on private land, the occupier is responsible. They are the person in occupation or control of the place - that is, the one who has the right to decide who to admit and who to exclude from the land or premises. The occupier may be, but is not necessarily, the owner/landlord.

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