Agricultural land has come under serious threat, due to the lack of laws concerning its classification and protection. “There’s much confusion about what’s classified as agricultural land and what isn’t, and this can result in agricultural land being sold as commercial or industrial properties,” explained Lourie Bosman, the president of Agri SA.
The matter is further complicated by last year’s ruling by the Court of Appeal, where Wary Holdings Pty Ltd objected to the sale of an agricultural parcel to Stalwo Pty Ltd in the Eastern Cape, on the grounds that the agriculture minister hadn’t granted permission for the subdivision of the land. he court ruled that based on the Subdivision of Agricultural Land Act of 1970, land falling inside a municipal council isn’t agricultural, unless thus specified by the minister. Permission to subdivide the land was therefore deemed unnecessary. The Act defines “agricultural land” as any land falling outside the jurisdiction of, amongst others, a municipal council. This made sense before the establishment of transitional councils in 1995, because municipalities then consisted of limited pockets of jurisdiction and vast areas falling outside local government jurisdiction qualified as “agricultural land”. he constitution then introduced radical changes, so that municipal areas now have wall-to-wall jurisdiction and hardly any land falls outside their area.
Wary Holdings has taken the judgement on further appeal to the Constitutional Court. Meanwhile the minister of agriculture, Lulama Xingwana, has entered into the matter, arguing that the Court of Appeals’ ruling is undermining government’s responsibility to protect agricultural land. nnelize Crosby, Agri SA’s x legaladviser, has welcomed the minister’s involvement and said it would be disastrous if the Constitutional Court upheld the ruling. B osman said government must revise its laws to ensure that other entities don’t take advantage of the appeal court’s ruling. He added that fortunately the ruling would not impact on property tax, as the law concerning property tax clearly specifies what constitutes agricultural land. – Glenneis Erasmus
