Enraged black farmer takes state to court
• Farm has been leased for 27 years by 77-year-old but the government is refusing to sell it to him
The government is opposing potentially landmark legal action from an elderly black farmer, who has gone to court to force the state to sell him the farm it promised him 15 years ago. Limpopo farmer David Rakgase, 77, has told the high court in Pretoria that the state’s broken promises had led to the 1,560ha farm in Nooitgedacht, Waterberg, being illegally occupied in May 2016.
The government is opposing potentially landmark legal action from an elderly black farmer, who has gone to court to force the state to sell him the farm it promised him 15 years ago.
Limpopo farmer David Rakgase, 77, has told the high court in Pretoria that the state’s broken promises had led to the 1,560ha farm in Nooitgedacht, Waterberg, being illegally occupied in May 2016 while he was waiting for an offer from the state. The family has worked the land for 27 years.
Rakgase’s case represents the perfect example of someone who should have benefited from land reform, but has been let down by the state’s failure to execute a coherent land policy.
His case, which comes soon after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced earlier in August that the ANC would support an amendment to the constitution to enable land expropriation without compensation, may put the governing party’s land strategy under the spotlight.
At the very least, Rakgase’s case suggests that the state’s reluctance to sell land to black farmers may have been a driver in some rural land invasions.
“When I approached them [the occupiers] and told them they must leave the farm, they responded that I have no authority to evict them because I am not the owner of the farm. That case has not been finalised,” he states in court documents.
Rakgase adds that government inspectors have found that the unlawful occupation had resulted in significant overgrazing, as the occupiers own 300 cattle. The government has yet to evict them.
Rakgase, who has been leasing the farm since 1991, says he is not the only black farmer who has been offered but later denied ownership of land.
However, the farmer and his son are believed to be the first people to take the provincial and national departments of rural development & land reform to court over the state’s failure to sell them land.
Rakgase has produced letters showing that he had been offered — and had accepted —
the chance to buy the farm in November 2002 for R1.2m under the Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development (LRAD) programme.
The state programme is aimed at helping black people to acquire land. The agreement was that the government would give him a R400,000 grant and he would pay a further R800,000 for the land.
One letter dated April 16 2003, signed by a senior manager, stated: “This is to confirm that Mr MD Rakgase is the legitimate lessee of the farm Nooitgedacht 11 JQ and that he also bought it through LRAD.”
It stated that the process was being handled by state lawyers.
Another letter, dated July 13 2004, stated that he had already purchased the land identified, “but the title deed has not been registered yet”.
But after 15 years of promises that the land transfer would be processed, Rakgase says, the government offered him a 30year lease instead.
He will have to sign that lease in order to remain on the farm, on which several of his relatives are buried. The farmer and his family have invested heavily in the farm, which became a training ground for aspirant young black farmers.
They have 500 cattle, 30 pigs, 80 sheep and 130 goats.
Rakgase states in court papers that “it is inexplicable” that the minister should have a policy that hinders an experienced black farmer from owning land at a time when “there is quite rightly national concern about the limited amount of agricultural land owned by black South Africans farmer”.
He states that he has successfully farmed the stateowned land for 27 years, and has paid his rent on time.
The fact that he has been training aspirant young black farmers and has the backing of the Land Bank, shows his commitment to the project, he says.
His business plan has already been approved by the department and he should not be required to enter into a new 30year lease in order for him to access assistance from the government’s land redistribution programme so he can remain on the farm, Rakgase says. He now wants the high court to order rural development and land reform minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane to sell the Nooitgedacht farm to him within 30 days. Crucially, he wants to pay the price he has been first offered by the state — R1.2m — with the same conditions proposed under the original land reform programme.
Rakgase further argues that the minister’s failure to sell him the farm amounts to a violation of the constitution, and says that her conduct and that of her officials is “inconsistent with the obligations to take reasonable legislative and other measures to foster conditions which enable citizens to gain access to land on an equitable basis”.
When Rakgase first went public with his story in 2017, Limpopo rural development & land reform spokesperson Avhashoni Magada said the land reform programme had been discontinued before Rakgase’s application to buy the farm had been approved.
“As such he did not get the opportunity to finally own the property. It is important to note that discontinuation of LRAD did not only affect Mr Rakgase alone or only the farmers in Northam, as alleged — it affected all farmers who were in a similar position as Mr Rakgase,” he said. And that point is crucial. Rakgase’s case, if successful, could affect a number of farmers in the same position. Despite the importance of the case, which was launched in May, the minister has yet to file a substantial response. Instead, she has filed a notice of opposition.