German pressure resolves land deadlock

German farmer and investor Alfred Huber has finally received the outstanding amount on the sale of his farm for restitution, but only after he approached his government for support in negotiations with South African authorities.
Huber agreed to sell his flourishing 1 400ha cattle farm situated between Tzaneen and Hoedspruit in Limpopo to government, after the German pressure
resolves land deadlock
Hoveni community registered a claim against his land. Huber settled for R7,5 million even though the farm was initially valued at R10 million.
Government only paid half of the money in December when the farm was transferred. As a result, Huber lodged an appeal with the German government to help him get the rest of his money.
Dr Theo de Jager, deputy president of the Agri SA, said settlement of the outstanding amount had defused a particularly volatile situation between South Africa and Germany. But international media reports of the incident will unfortunately render South Africa less attractive to foreign investment.
The website www.digitaljournal.com referred to the incident as a “farmland purchasing scam” and said “similar scams are also seen in other African countries south of the Sahara, where northern Europeans are often “invited to buy land and farms” in Tanzania, Kenya, Mozambique and Malawi with lavish promises and goodwill speeches towards “former colonials”. Huber has decided to withdraw all his other investments from South Africa.
Dr De Jager pointed out that while the German had finally received his money, there are still many South African farmers who are struggling to get theirs. “South African-born white farmers find themselves between a rock and a hard place under the land restitution act,” he said. “They can only appeal against the agreed sales price, not against land confiscation. If the government fails to pay them, there’s no legal respite for these farmers in their land of birth.” – Glenneis Erasmus