Bolstered by the new Expropriation Bill before parliament, the Land Claims Commission is preparing 143 new expropriation notices to serve farmers with land under claim who refuse to sell. N ewly appointed acting chief land claims commissioner Blessing Mphela is currently reviewing the merits of each case before submitting them to the land and agriculture minister Lulama Xingwana for approval and it’s therefore quite possible that a large portion of these cases will not meet the criteria for expropriation.
In most cases, farmers are unhappy with the compensation offers, while in others, they are disputing the validity of claims. “They are just asking ridiculous prices,” said Mphela. “In one case, a farmer wants R2 billion a hectare, in another R1 million a hectare. And some people just don’t want to sell on ideological grounds.” Farmer’s Weekly has a list of some of the cases being prepared, but can’t reveal the names of claims because the farmers haven’t been served notices yet. commission has missed its deadline of settling all land claims by end March 2008 and is under intense political pressure to wrap them up by the end of this financial year.
S A’s restitution law already allows for expropriation to break deadlocks in negotiations with landowners. But only two properties – land belonging to the Lutheran Church near Pniel in the Northern Cape, and the Callais farm in Limpopo owned by Rivermouth Fruit Exporters, have been expropriated to date. Officials say onerous legal procedures set out by the 1975 Expropriation Act have prevented them from expropriating more farms. But this Act will be replaced by the Expropriation Bill currently before parliament, which makes it easier for government to expropriate farms to achieve land reforms and for government to pay compensation below market value.
The Bill has also come under fire for giving public works minister Thoko Didiza too much executive power, while providing little legal clarity on the checks and balances in place. Major concerns include letting the state determine compensation subject to court review, rather than letting the courts decide, and setting up boards that don’t require any property, legal or agricultural expertise to advise the minister on which farms to expropriate and the compensation to be paid. However, Mphela believes the new Act will make the commission’s work easier. “It will have to be tested in court, but we feel it will help us crack some tough nuts.” He insists expropriation won’t become their main tool to get land. “Negotiation is our primary instrument. will always be a last resort.” – Stephan Hofstätter
