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South Africa Offers State Land for Lease to Dispossessed

South Africa
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South Africa will offer as much as 700,000 hectares (1.73 million acres) of state land for lease as the government steps up its drive to compensate citizens forcibly removed and dispossessed during the apartheid era.

The agricultural land, designated vacant or underutilized, is the most to be released since President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the government’s intention to speed up land reform in his state of the nation address in February. Since then it has handed 135,117 hectares to 275 farmers.

Applications for the land, comprising 896 farms in seven of the country’s provinces, will open in two weeks. Successful applicants will be granted for 30-year leases with the option to buy, Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Minister Thoko Didiza told reporters Thursday.

 Lease agreements aren’t transferable and lessors won’t be able to sub-lease portions of land, Didiza said. Beneficiaries will undergo a compulsory training program including basic training on farming, record-keeping and financial management.

 “This is a good move, but unfortunately as long as we still have a non-tradable lease, the financing of and keeping these farms productive will remain a challenge,” Wandile Sihlobo, the chief economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa, said in an emailed comment.

Expropriation, Claims
The ruling African National Congress adopted expropriation of land without compensation as a policy in 2017 to address racially skewed ownership patterns dating back to colonialism and white-minority rule that ended in 1994.

It is also addressing land claims by people seeking rights to property they were forcibly removed from. About 360,173 hectares, equating to 413 properties, is under claim, Didiza said.

The department is continuing to investigate state land that is already occupied without formal approval, she said.

Close to 900 farms, comprising 700,000 hectares of underutilised and vacant state land, will be made available as part of the government’s contribution to land reform in SA.

Agriculture, land reform and rural development minister Thoko Didiza said on Thursday that the government would in the next two weeks issue advertisement notices for the following amounts of land in seven provinces:

  • 300,000ha in the North West;
  • 121,567ha in Limpopo;
  • 43,000ha in the Eastern Cape;
  • 40,206ha in Mpumalanga;
  • 12,224ha in the Northern Cape 
  • 8,333ha in the Free State; and
  • 3,684ha in KwaZulu-Natal.

Application forms would be made available in district and provincial offices of the department of agriculture, land reform and rural development, as well as municipal district offices, said Didiza.

“Unsuccessful applicants will have an opportunity to register their appeals to the land allocation appeals committee,” she said.

The minister revealed that a land inquiry process would be ongoing on state land that was already occupied without formal approval from the department.

“Such an inquiry will assess farms that have been acquired through the proactive land acquisition strategy (PLAS). The land inquiry will investigate and determine how individuals and communities currently occupying the land got access to it,” Didiza said.

She said the inquiry would also look at how the land is being utilised and whether it was in accordance with agricultural practices for the area. 

Didiza also announced that the government would offer a 30-year leasehold, with an option to buy.

“This form of leasehold places certain obligations to the state as the lessor and beneficiaries as the lessees,” she said.

She said all beneficiaries who have been allocated state land and signed lease agreements would be subjected to a compulsory training programme.

“The training programme will include entry level training on the commodity of their choice, basic record keeping and basic financial management, as well as enterprise development.”

She said since an announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa in his February state of the nation address, her department had released 135,117ha of land to 275 farmers, with women receiving 160 farms, youth 114 and people with disabilities one farm.

On land claims, Didiza said about 360,173ha had been identified through state land analysis to be under claim, equating to 413 properties.

She said 43,670ha, equating to 60 properties, were new order claims, a process which had been interdicted by the Constitutional Court.

This year, Didiza said more than 117,000ha was under research for the 2020/21 financial year.

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