Farmer’s two-year quest for a lease over

A MORE-THAN-TWO-YEAR battle ended in victory for small farmer and prize-winning entrepreneur Ivan Cloete, who has finally received written confirmation from the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform that the Colenso farm in Darling has been allocated to him.

The Legal Resources Centre (LRC) said a 30-year lease agreement should be signed by the end of the month.

Cloete was first awarded a lease agreement on Bellevue farm in 2013. He had to share it with another beneficiary, which led to the farm being sub-divided into portions that did not support Cloete's scale of operation.

He was subsequently moved to a new farm, Gelukwaarts, in Piketberg. It was then discovered that there was a person already living on the farm who claimed to have a valid lease agreement for the property.

“The incident came to the attention of the parliamentary portfolio committee, which demanded action from the department to secure Cloete and his family. He was hurriedly moved to yet another farm, Colenso, in the Darling area. He was assured that he would be granted a long-term lease agreement for Colenso … until February this year, when he was informed that the department had made a U-turn and decided to kick him off Colenso.”

In response to correspondence from the LRC and renewed questions raised by the portfolio committee, the ministry commissioned an investigation. The department subsequently provided confirmation to Cloete last month that he would receive a 30-year lease agreement for Colenso.