Daily Dispatch
Fish River claim could be beacon
POST-2009, the Jacob Zuma government identified rural development, food security and land reform as priorities on the national agenda. The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform was established with the onerous task of constructively reforming land ownership patterns and developing vibrant and sustainable rural communities.
The snail’s pace of land reform and the massive and very public failure of agricultural and other community land projects is cause for national shame.
The constitution is often blamed for the slow pace of land reform and there has long been a rallying cry of doing away with the “willing buyer, willing seller” principle.
But the constitution, even with its property rights clause, does not stand in the way of land reform. Instead it said it is hampered by political negligence, a bloated bureaucracy, mismanagement and corruption.
The Fish River Sun claim is a case in point. Commission on Restitution of Land Rights director Mtobeli Mxotwa recently described it as a one of the province’s biggest ever land claims, covering 85 farms over 43 700ha. The land intersects three claims involving claimant communities Tharfield, Prudhoe and Amazizi.
But, it has dragged on interminably, especially if one considers that most communities put in their claims prior to 1998.
In 2010, the LCC awarded much of the land, including the Fish River Sun, to the Amazizi.
This was set aside by the Supreme Court of Appeal in 2011 because the commission had failed to highlight to the court that there were competing claims.
The process recently started afresh but was hamstrung by the commission’s failure to inform interested and affected parties, including dozens of farmers whose land was under claim. The matter is now due to go forward next month, some 19 years after the first claim was lodged.
Sun International and Emfuleni were previously obliged under the conditions of their licence for the Boardwalk Casino in Port Elizabeth to keep the Fish River Sun going until the land issue was resolved.
The entities have lost millions of rands doing so because they cannot improve or develop the land while the claims drag on.
Last week, the gambling board lifted the condition. The two companies have opted to negotiate with government to hand the Fish River Sun over as a going concern, failing which they will simply close and lock up the resort at the end of November.
They cannot be blamed for taking this option after years of massive financial losses.
But, the various communities who may hope to benefit from this once iconic resort and golf course, have reason to fear for its future. At best, government will be its caretaker, running it “on behalf of the communities” pending the outcome of the land claim. At worst, it will be closed down and left to vandals and natural decay while the golf course reverts to natural bush veld.
This is an opportunity for the government to develop a beacon project for future similar claims. It does not rely on “willing buyer, willing seller” or any other constitutional mandate. If it fails this time, there is no one left to blame.