A community which has waited more than two decades for their land claim to be resolved has expressed disappointment at being given just five minutes to engage with minister of agriculture, rural development and land reform Thoko Didiza.
The Selwane Communal Property Association (CPA) lodged a claim for 60 000 hectares of land dispossessed from the community under apartheid before the December 1998 cut-off date.
CPAs which are entities set up to manage land on behalf of beneficiaries of land restitution and reform communities, were set up under the Communal Properties Act 28 of 1996.
But after 15 long years government has only restored just 4500 hectares to the frustrated clan.
“The only farms that they restituted back to us is Kondowe which is 4000 hectares and the other few hectares which is 500 hectares, which is just portions of another farm called Waterbok,” said the CPA’s secretary Harry Matlola Malatji after a meeting with Didiza recently.
The minister met with farmers in Praktiseer near Burgersfort, Limpopo last Thursday as a build up to the provincial in preparation for an imibizo with president Cyril Ramaphosa.
The engagement was part of various community meetings held by ministers in the Sekhukhune district of Limpopo ahead of president Cyril Ramaphosa’s visit. Didiza’s visit was set to “understand the experiences, frustrations, limitations, and difficulties they face, as well as the anticipated support from the department to help them thrive in their farming businesses.”
But Malatjie expressed displeasure about the meeting.
“We are very disappointed about the Minister because we did not get a chance to engage with her. She gave each community five minutes to talk to her, which is not much for all the challenges we wanted to talk to her about,” he said.
The community’s frustration echoes growing disgruntlement by claimant communities over outstanding land claims. In his budget vote speech last month deputy minister of agriculture, rural development and land reform Mcebisi Skwatsha said there is a total of a total of 9921 claims outstanding land claims that still need to be processed. He said a total of 82 761 land claims have been settled to date.
Malatji said some of the challenges the Selwane CPA wished to raise with the minister included, but were not limited to a business proposal which was submitted in 2015 for the joint development of farmland into a game farm (Kondowe) in collaboration with a strategic partner.
The CPA applied for a grant of R 56 million and was granted R 22 million in late 2018, citing budget constraints as the reason for the reduced amount. The remaining funds were expected to be obtained at a later stage.
Malatji said with the support of the strategic partner, the development of the farm began in February 2019 and was successfully completed, meeting all financial requirements and receiving approval from the Department of Agriculture, Rural Development and Land Reform.
The project received recognition and was selected to be presented at the upcoming BRICS convention. However, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the unfinished elements of the project pose challenges to maintaining the farm’s sustainable operations. Assistance is now required to secure the remaining funding originally applied for.
Malatjie said the Selwane game farm (Kondowe) which offers a range of wildlife species, trophy hunting and tourist services for domestic and international tourists among other services, successfully employed 32 people on a permanent basis and 102 seasonal workers during the development of the farm shortly after they were awarded funds for the development of the farm.
“People are still crying for jobs, and unfortunately, we are unable to provide jobs for everyone due to the limited land available. However, if we were to regain ownership of other disputed lands, we could at least decrease the number of individuals who are unemployed,” Malatji said.
He also mentioned that the Waterbok Farm which specializes in citrus such as lemons and tangerines, as well as cabbage, green beans and baby marrows has managed to hire 60 permanent employees and 200 seasonal workers. Currently, the CPA has 13 pending farms that they wish would be restituted back to the community. This includes the popular game reserve Letaba Ranch 17 LU which is an unopposed land claim.
The purpose of Didiza’s visit was to gather information for a detailed report to be presented at the presidential imbizo. The report will focus on land redistribution for agricultural purposes to address food security and expedite land claims and restitution.
Didiza’s spokesperson Reggie Ngcobo dismissed Malatji’s complaint as selfish, saying the hall was full of more than 100 CPAs.
“So we should have prefered him (Malatji) above all others. Everyone who attended the meeting had a lot to say to the Minister. So he means all others were not suppose to be heard by the Minister. I guess that a bit selfish.
“We had to two sessions there one for famers and one for CPA’s. Above that details of all officials including those of the office of the Minister were given out to continue engaging with the department. If he expected to be given preferential treatment our apologies to him, we also had to give others a chance as well,” he said.
Didiza announced during her budget vote speech in May that the total budget for this financial year is R17, 254, 348 billion, which includes funds allocated to provincial Departments of Agriculture. – Mukurukuru Media
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