DA wants black farmers to own land
Qualifying black farmers should have an ownership stake in the land they farmed, ensuring economic empowerment and true freedom, DA leader Mmusi Maimane said on Monday.
Qualifying black farmers must have an ownership stake in the land they farmed, ensuring economic empowerment and true freedom, DA leader Mmusi Maimane said on Monday.
Without ownership, said Maimane, farmers could not raise capital, remove illegal land invaders or expand output.
The government has been under pressure to boost the number of black farmers who own their land, amid growing frustration with the state’s tardy land-reform programme.
The Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies has previously said more than 70% of commercial farms in SA are owned by white farmers.
According to the African Farmers Association of SA, 39,000 commercial farmers are white and 5,300 are black.
Many black farmers struggle to get title deeds to their land, making it difficult to get loans.
Maimane, who met farmers in Limpopo on Monday, said the Land Redistribution for Local Development programme was supposed to enable black farmers to buy the land they leased from the state.
However, this had happened, Maimane said.
He said many farmers paid a not monthly lease fee to the state — with no prospect of owning the land — despite having farmed the land for many years.
Maimane said David Rakgase had been leasing a Nooitgedacht farm from the government since April 1991. In 1999, Rakgase became a beneficiary of the Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development programme. In 2002, he exercised his option to purchase the farm, and a letter from the Limpopo government confirmed he was the owner.
However, Maimane said, Rakgase now fell under the Proactive Land Acquisition Strategy, so the government said he could no longer own the land.
“They deny that the option to purchase was ever exercised. At 77 years old, Mr Rakgase is still not the owner of this farm … despite a clear contractual agreement,” Maimane said.
“The ANC government has all but abandoned the stateassisted land purchase and transfer of title to beneficiaries approach … to the detriment of black farmers. The state now acquires land for redistribution to beneficiaries without transfer of title. State-owned land that is leased out has replaced the original private ownership model.”
Department of Rural Development and Land Reform spokeswoman Linda Page said: “The department has since 2013 signed leases with farmers with the option to purchase.
“Once the lessees reach the stage of exercising such option, they shall be entitled to buy the land in accordance with their lease agreements.”