State to take back unused land
THE Gauteng government will in the next three months conduct a land audit in a bid to lease unused land to small black farmers.
This was revealed yesterday by premier David Makhura who together with economic development MEC Lebogang Maile said this was in response to complaints by farmers who wanted to expand their businesses.
They were speaking on the sidelines of the Agro-processing Industry Summit in Kliptown which ends today.
“The aim is to respond to calls, it’s not about anarchy… We will take back government land and lease it to those who will make better use of it,” Makhura said, adding that this included private land.
“The audit which the department of economic development will do will help us know whether all farms who are supposed to be in production are in production.”
This moves comes as the EFF in the province threatened to intensify their plan to occupy vacant land on April 6.
Apart from the issue of funding, the need for transformation in the farming sector, and difficulty in accessing the market, the issue of land became a contentious one that forced both Maile and Makhura to assure delegates that all would be well soon.
At least three farmers raised issue about their inability to acquire land for production. One of them, Tua Motaung-Matla, who supplies spinach and cabbages to a Pick n Pay supermarket, said: “We are far more ready to go commercial but we have hiccups, we can’t get land to expand the business.”
Pearlma Gwamande, who farms beans, said: “I’m ready to challenge the white minority.”
Many white farmers snubbed the conference, but Makhura said they had different needs.