SA moves to speed up land reform

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa will expropriate a white-owned farm without a court order for the first time under new laws aimed at speeding up the return of land to black communities dispossessed under apartheid.

The government used its new powers after the farmer demanded nearly double the market price for the land, Chief Land Claims Commissioner Thozi Gwanya told Reuters on Friday. The government has expropriated land before, but legislative amendments passed last year now enable it to do so without a court order if talks reach an impasse under a “willing-seller, willing-buyer” approach.”This will be our first expropriation under the amendments to the law.Not getting a court order saves us a lot of time,” Gwanya said.”By taking this action we are hoping to break the deadlocks in other cases.We are hoping to fast-track the process of land reform,” he said, adding that he would only use his new powers as a last resort.Land is an emotive issue in South Africa where the white minority still owns the bulk of agricultural land more than a decade after the end of apartheid.The 500-hectare (1 250 acres) cattle farm in North West Province has been earmarked for expropriation under a programme that enabled communities or individuals who were dispossessed under minority white rule to lay claim to their former land.The cut-off date for filing a claim was Dec.31, 1998.Talks with the owner of the farm broke down over the price.The farmer wanted three million rand for his farm while the government offered 1,75 million rand.”We cannot pay him more than the market price, which is 1,75 million rand for such a property,” Gwanya said.The farmer will likely be served notice next week.He then has 30 days to argue why the order should not be made final.”He can then go to court to challenge the price that has been paid but not to oppose expropriation.We are trying to do this in a flexible and open manner,” Gwanya said.The government has been keen to highlight the difference between its approach and that of neighbouring Zimbabwe, where President Robert Mugabe’s ruling ZANU-PF party launched land invasions in 2000 and began seizing white-owned farms.Zimbabwe’s land seizures have been blamed for a sharp downturn in its commercial farming sector, once the backbone of the country’s economy.Gwanya said South Africa had already settled close to 67 000 land claims out of about 79 000.About 7 000 rural land claims remain and the government has complained that the process has been slowed because owners are demanding too high a price for their land.Most urban claims have been settled with cash rather than land, but rural communities are keen to till the soil.The government says it wants 30 per cent in black hands by 2014 but only about three per cent has so far been handed over.”We do have white farmers who are willing to be part of the new arrangement, and we are working well with those farmers,” said Gwanya.”But we are going to use this expropriation clause to speed things up, although only as a last resort.”-Nampa-ReutersThe government has expropriated land before, but legislative amendments passed last year now enable it to do so without a court order if talks reach an impasse under a “willing-seller, willing-buyer” approach.”This will be our first expropriation under the amendments to the law.Not getting a court order saves us a lot of time,” Gwanya said.”By taking this action we are hoping to break the deadlocks in other cases.We are hoping to fast-track the process of land reform,” he said, adding that he would only use his new powers as a last resort.Land is an emotive issue in South Africa where the white minority still owns the bulk of agricultural land more than a decade after the end of apartheid.The 500-hectare (1 250 acres) cattle farm in North West Province has been earmarked for expropriation under a programme that enabled communities or individuals who were dispossessed under minority white rule to lay claim to their former land.The cut-off date for filing a claim was Dec.31, 1998.Talks with the owner of the farm broke down over the price.The farmer wanted three million rand for his farm while the government offered 1,75 million rand.”We cannot pay him more than the market price, which is 1,75 million rand for such a property,” Gwanya said.The farmer will likely be served notice next week.He then has 30 days to argue why the order should not be made final.”He can then go to court to challenge the price that has been paid but not to oppose expropriation.We are trying to do this in a flexible and open manner,” Gwanya said.The government has been keen to highlight the difference between its approach and that of neighbouring Zimbabwe, where President Robert Mugabe’s ruling ZANU-PF party launched land invasions in 2000 and began seizing white-owned farms.Zimbabwe’s land seizures have been blamed for a sharp downturn in its commercial farming sector, once the backbone of the country’s economy.Gwanya said South Africa had already settled close to 67 000 land claims out of about 79 000.About 7 000 rural land claims remain and the government has complained that the process has been slowed because owners are demanding too high a price for their land.Most urban claims have been settled with cash rather than land, but rural communities are keen to till the soil.The government says it wants 30 per cent in black hands by 2014 but only about three per cent has so far been handed over.”We do have white farmers who are willing to be part of the new arrangement, and we are working well with those farmers,” said Gwanya.”But we are going to use this expropriation clause to speed things up, although only as a last resort.”-Nampa-Reuters