President Cyril Ramaphosa says that the government is commencing a “massive” programme to redistribute land.

The president on Sunday facilitated the handover of 4‚586 hectares of land to the community of KwaMkhwanazi near Empangeni - the culmination of a successful land claim.

“We are commencing a rolling mass land distribution programme in our country. We will be returning land in a massive way. This Mkhwanazi land is the first‚” he said.

“Today we are making history‚ celebrating the return of the land to our people in this area‚” Ramaphosa added.

The community had been dispossessed of land in several phases - the first after the conclusion of World War 1 and the second in the 1940s when white farmers expanded their commercial cane and timber operations.

Moves to fast-track the expropriation of land without compensation has dominated the national narrative.

The ANC announced its support for a constitutional amendment to expropriate land without compensation.