‘Land Affairs official wanted bribe’ – Free State farmer

A young black Free State farmer intends bringing criminal charges against Land Affairs after a Free State official tried to solicit a bribe as compensation for “ironing out” a dispute with the department.
In April, 28-year-old Mongeze Bomela was told Land Affairs had applied to terminate his contract to utilise the farm Olivine in Virginia in the Free State.
Three weeks later, he allegedly received a phone call from a land affairs official with a strange request. Bomela claims he was asked if he could assure that once the termination was halted, he’d give the official 50% of the 64ha of sunflower planted on the farm.
Bomela had initially hoped to acquire the 217ha farm on a lease agreement with the option to buy, as per the Proactive Land Acquisition Strategy (PLAS) programme. Instead, he was appointed as a caretaker for a year, while his application was being processed.
Ten months after he’d settled on the farm and had planted 64ha to sunflower, Bomela was informed of the cancellation of his contract due to a violation of contractual provisions on his side.
Farmers’ Weekly enquired about Bomela’s violation of the agreement, and Land Affairs responded that he’d promised other farmers they could lease some of the land, without the department’s consent.
However, Bomela claims he went to Land Affairs to inform them about his partnership with the other farmers and was told by his project coordinator that he could go ahead.
Despite several efforts by Farmer’s Weekly to contact the accused Land Affairs official, he had not responded at the time of going to print. – Peter Mashala