An elderly Vryheid, KwaZulu-Natal, farmer has decided to throw in the towel and sell his farm, following growing intimidation by members of a neighbouring tribal community.
Jaap de Villiers (76), his wife Ester (50), and their sons Jacob Paul (13) and Jacob Hendrik (9), of farm, have allegedly been subject to the sabotage and destruction of their farm’s infrastructure as well as farmgate protests by their neighbours, who are fed up with waiting for their land claim against a portion of the farm to be processed. According to reports, Uitval farm is surrounded on three sides by tribal land, and 147 families in the tribal area lodged the claim in 1999.
In the most recent protest, members of the tribal community handed De Villiers a memorandum telling him he and his family had until 28 September to vacate the farm (see Farmer’s Weekly 28 September). De Villiers said that, by himself, he would be able to withstand the intimidation, but that his decision to sell Uitval had been prompted by fears for the safety of his family. He added the intimidation had included his irrigation pipes being flattened, his cattle being stolen, and his lands being set alight.
Despite the intimidation, De Villiers was adamant that the sale of Uitval would be on his terms. He would not simply hand the land over out of fear, but expected the land to be properly valued and sold to the Department of Land Affairs (DLA) at a fair price. De Villiers said he needed the money from the sale so he could buy a farm elsewhere and continue farming. While the DLA said it would have the land evaluated and begin negotiating the sale, it admitted De Villiers hadn’t been informed of the claim on his land because the claim had not yet been processed. Meanwhile, DLA representatives visited the tribal community and explained these circumstances, calming the situation.
On hearing of the situation, KZN Agricultural Union (Kwanalu) president Robin Barnsley, said it was unacceptable that the community had taken the law into its own hands to gain access to De Villiers’ land. “Kwanalu has always been adamant that the land reform process should take place within the requirements of the law,” Barnsley told Farmer’s Weekly. “However, it’s also unacceptable that this particular land claim hasn’t even been processed yet, even more so that the farmer hadn’t even been made aware of the claim.” Barnsley added that the slow pace of land reform, particularly regarding restitution, was responsible for rising tensions, as seen in the De Villiers case. He urged all stakeholders in the land reform process to start acting decisively in getting land claims processed and, where applicable, settled. – Lloyd Phillips
