On 8 April, land and agriculture minister Lulama Xingwana “reposessed” a second farm in Gauteng as part of her “use it or lose it” campaign, through which she’s replacing “unproductive” land reform beneficiaries with groups of women she believes will do a better job. Peter Mashala reports.
In reclaiming another land reform farm from its beneficiary as part of her “use it or lose it” campaign, agriculture minister Lulama Xingwana put on a big show, pretending to till the soil and plant vegetables.
“This is what she should have done,” Xingwana told media, referring to ousted land reform beneficiary Veronica Moos, who was settled on portion 42 of the farm Ystervarkfontein in Bapsfontein near Delmas.
What Xingwana didn’t tell the media was that infrastructural investment promised by government only took place a year after Moos had settled on the farm.
Having spent over R370 000 from her pension payout to improve the farm, Moos was evicted earlier this month to make way for a group of 10 women from Women in Agriculture and Rural Development (Ward), an organisation the minister is closely associated with.
Over the past two years that Moos has been on the farm, her efforts (all documented) to obtain advice from officials at the Gauteng Department of Land Affairs, Gauteng Department of Agriculture Conservation and Environment (GDACE) and Metsweding District Municipality got no reaction.
Moos said, however, that she was advised by GDACE officials to farm with Boer goats, but this proved poor advice. “Goats eat shrubs and tree leaves but the farm is on sour grass veld, so the animals couldn’t adapt and this resulted in livestock losses,” she explained.
But Xingwana had no sympathy for these facts and a cancellation of allocation letter was handed to Moos’s husband on 6 April.
“I was informed the next morning (7 April) by Sagren Naidoo of Land Affairs that I should hand over the keys for duplicates, failing which they will force open the locks,” said Moos.
She was also informed the minister’s Ilema/Letsema campaign event would take place on her farm on 8 April and was told not to be there on that day. “When I asked Mr Naidoo what will happen to my possessions and livestock, he replied that he can’t tell me what to do,” she said.
While Xingwana is quick to point fingers at commercial farmers for what she claims to be illegal evictions, she has blatantly defied the law in this regard. “They can take the matter to court,” she told Farmer’s Weekly when asked about the legal process followed in evicting Moos.
According to the Land Reform Act 3 of 1996, which protects the rights of a tenant who lives, grows crops or grazes livestock on a farm, the tenant can’t be evicted without a court order.
While Xingwana didn’t have such an order, she played the race card to justify her actions. “We have established that there is a white man living on the property,” she said. “Land reform is for black people, but she [Moos] has sub-leased the property to a white man.”
Moos denied any wrongdoing and said the white man only lived on the farm as a caretaker and provided security in the area which was plagued by crime.
Moos feels she’s being treated like a criminal, despite having struggled on her own for two years trying to run the farm and investing every cent into it.
“I have continuously written to the department for financial support and mentorship,” she said. “Where is the justice in all of this? I would like to know whether the ANC president is aware of what is happening to me and others like me.”
According to Xingwana, her task team evaluated a number of farms and about five more are earmarked for seizure.
