about half farm evictions legal
24 April 2007
A total of 8 759 people were evicted from farms around the country in the five-year period from 2002 to 2006, according to Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister Lulu Xingwana.
In written reply to a question in the national assembly by the Freedom Front's Pieter Groenewald on Monday, she said that 4 674 were illegal and 4 085 legal.
KwaZulu-Natal accounted for 58.7% of all evictions with 5 143 - 2 611 illegal and 2 532 legal.
Gauteng followed with 2 157 - 1 102 illegal and 1 055 legal.
The Northern Cape had the fewest evictions in the past five years (three legal and 23 illegal), followed by Limpopo (18 illegal and 10 legal).
Xingwana said it was "unfortunately not possible to provide accurate month-to-month statistics on evictions for the past five years". On Monday, Groenewald said that, despite this acknowledgment, Xingwana's department had launched an advertising campaign in December, which stated that "evictions of farm workers from their houses generally take place especially at that time of the year".
"This answer of the minister is proof that the advertisement had no substance and was therefore implausible. "It is irresponsible of the minister to, without having proper facts, allow the placement of advertisements which are contentious, disputable and that arouse emotions," he said.
Xingwana also said in her reply that these cases were reported to her department and the department's social partners.
However, the accuracy of the figures was questionable. Legal evictions could be verified easily, as they usually were accompanied by legal action.
"Sometimes, people feel that they are being illegally evicted, when it is, indeed, a legal eviction and it can rightly be asked how these cases are being reported," he said.