Agbiz Blog

Theo de Jager says the restitution process up to now has been chaotic, mismanaged and corrupt.

The reopening of land claims is just about the worst news the agricultural sector could have. 37 000 Commercial farmers are still reeling from the way the 79 000 land claims which were filed before 1998 were implemented, and are certainly not ready to face the estimated 400 000 more which the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform expects to be filed when the process will be reopened. Of the previous round, some 8 000 claims have not been addressed. That does not mean that claims have been made to 8 000 farms. In fact, one claim can affect 715 farms, as is the case in Magoebaskloof, or 665 farms like in the Hoedspruit claim.

It also does not mean that the remaining 71 000 claims have been finalised. In the case of the Magoebaskloof land claim, government bought and transferred 42 of the 715 farms, and the rest of the farms are still in the freezer box of uncertainty. No farm has been unlisted yet, and the claimants have an expectation to get those farms too, although they had listed only 6 farms on the original claim form in 1998.

The rest were added by incompetent and corrupt land officials, under the wide discretion the act bestows on the land claims commissioner. Tens of thousands of farms are caught up in this state of unresolved claims, and there is no indication when or how they will be finalised.
There are serious questions to be asked about the number of outstanding claims too. The department reported to parliament in 2000 that it had received 63 000 claims, and that number had grown annually ever since. Up to this day none of the numerous requests of Agri-SA to have a complete list of claims and the farms which are involved, could yield any response but a promise that the list would be made available as soon as it is compiled.

Source:  PoliticsWeb