dismay at land claims delay 
05 Aug 2008

AgriSA land spokeswoman Annelize Crosby said yesterday the investment climate in farming was already uncertain, and prolonged uncertainty would do further harm. “Uncertainty is the single biggest constraint to investment.”  The commission said last week it would settle all outstanding claims by 2011.

The commission had settled 74808 claims out of the 79696 claims lodged by the December 1998 cutoff date, benefiting 289937 households and about 1,4-million people. By this June, the state had allocated more than R16bn for all claims settled to date.  Acting chief land claims commissioner Blessing Mphela said another R18bn was needed to settle the last 4949 claims. All the remaining claims involved agricultural land.

The commission said these were “difficult claims”, and blamed land owners disputing the claims, exorbitant land prices, referrals to the Land Claims Court, family disputes and disputes involving traditional leaders, for the delay.  The commission has not said precisely how many people are still waiting for restitution, but researchers estimate that figure to be in the millions.  The commission missed its March 30 deadline this year, itself a postponement granted by President Thabo Mbeki when it became clear the commission would miss its initial deadline of December 2005.

Crosby said, however, that if the remaining cases were handled correctly a postponement was preferable to a rushed approach. She said the commission had to accept partnerships between beneficiaries and commercial farmers, and the state had to provide adequate post-settlement support. Afrikaner farmer organisation TAU SA condemned the postponement. “Many farmers still are not even aware of the claims on their land,” president Paul van der Walt said.

“TAU SA insists that the cutoff time of the end of this year will be respected. The process is paralysing agriculture, especially in a time when the debate regarding food security is very relevant,” Van der Walt said.  Crosby said land claims were handled poorly from the start, and in many cases farmers had been waiting for years for progress in claims on their land. She also said post-settlement support had so far been slow and inadequate.  Mphela said the criticism was unfair because the commission had a dual function of investigating and settling claims as well as providing support. “The commission took over post-settlement support to fill the gap that was supposed to have been filled by institutions such as the Land Bank. The commission had to spread its resources thinly across a terrain for which it was little prepared, and not ready to undertake,” he said.

Mphela said the commission had entered into partnerships that had attracted the wrong partners who were pursuing “their own interests”.  The commission said a key element in support was co-operation from other government institutions, but that had not been forthcoming from some of the government structures. “This is contrary to the government’s co-operative governance framework initiative, and impedes the speedy implementation of the landreform programme,” it said.

Neels Blom,  www.businessday.co.za