State employee kicked off farm after receiving department funds
THE Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR) has evicted a state employee from Hill View farm he was occupying after he received funds from the same department.
The farmer, Vukile Magqabi, a magistrate, was moved off Hill View farm outside East London after there were allegations of mismanaging the livestock and cabbage farm.
A Saturday Dispatch team visited the farm this week and found it was empty, with the farm’s main house doors left wide open and workers’ compound abandoned. Electricity wires were ripped off the walls while the fields were overgrown, in comparison to a farm next to it, where there was agricultural activity.
The National African Farmers Union (Nafu) questioned the eviction from this once-successful farm, asking why government was targeting a few individuals while there were a number of those who were state employees who were running farms.
Nafu’s Eastern Cape president, Pumza Vitshima said the department was not consistent. “They should evict all government employees who are running farms. Why must a few individuals be targets because of agendas between the department,” said Vitshima.
Vitshima said the farm was taken from Magqabi and was promised to another farmer, who they suspect was not “on the waiting list. We hope that the person who is going to occupy this farm didn’t jump the queue or is not connected to people within the department”.
Vitshima said she was told that a bakkie, a tractor and trailers that were left on the farm after Magqabi left were missing. “They are being driven around East London, though they belong to a farm that is closed,” said Vitshima.
She said the system was not fair.
“Soon we will release names of those other government officials who own governmentfunded farms and you tell us if that is fair.
“The poor African farmers who are trying to build their future in farming are being denied
Magqabi could comment.
The department’s spokeswoman Linda Page confirmed that the farm had been taken away from Magqabi and was in the process of being transferred to another person. “The farm is going through the organisational committees for reallocation to a prospective farmer,” said Page.
She dismissed the allegations that the farm’s bakkie, a tractor and trailers were missing, saying they were removed and were in a secure place.
“Nothing was reported (to the police) as the assets are in safekeeping. The moveable assets were moved from the farm for safekeeping,” said Page.
Hill View is situated in a farming area in the Cambridge Valley, along the Nahoon River. In its heyday, the farm used to be the best cabbage farm in East London.
It was bought in 2008 for R8-million by the then-Department of Land Affairs, which had launched a programme in August 2001 to redistribute land for agricultural development. The farm was leased to Magqabi. Nationally, since 2008 the government had spent R9-billion to acquire about 1 600 farms, which were distributed to black emerging farmers. — bonganif@dispatch.co.za the opportunity,” not be said Vitshima. reached for