Snubbed farmers might still get market value

Farmers who were forced to accept below-market related prices for land sold to the state for restitution might still get the chance to be fully compensated.
At a recent meeting between Agri SA’s transformation committee and acting chief land claims commissioner Blessing Mphela, Mphela said he wasn’t aware of the practice whereby some landowner receive as little as 60% of their property’s valuation. He said it’s not government policy to buy land at less than market value.
According to Dr Theo de Jager, deputy president of Agri SA and chairperson of the transformation committee, there’s now a possibility landowners who didn’t receive the full value of their land can make out a case for secondary restitution and ask to be fully compensated.
Dr De Jager said his committee told the commission they would approach the Southern African Development and Economic Community (SADEC) Tribunal to find a solution. The commission asked them to wait and see if the commission could help resolve the problem.
But responding to questions from Farmer’s Weekly Pulane Molefe, manager for communications at the Commission for Restitution of Land Rights, said market value is only one aspect considered when negotiating the settlement of a claim. She referred to section 25(3) of the Constitution which states compensation must be just and equitable and reflect a balance between public interest and the interests of those affected.
According to the Constitution, compensation should also consider the use of the property, the history of its acquisition, its market value, the extent of state investment and subsidy in the acquisition and beneficial capital improvement of the property, and the purpose of the expropriation.
She did, however, confirm the commission and Agri SA’s transformation committee have agreed to work together for the speedy finalisation of the restitution process, and added the meeting emphasised the need to work towards economic stability and food security.
Dr De Jager said the commission also undertook to make information on land valuations more readily available and start removing farms from the inventory if they weren’t going to be expropriated. A full list of the remaining national land claims will be published by the end of July, he said.
He said the commission said land restitution in Gauteng and the North West will be finalised by the end of the year. In the Northern Cape, the Western Cape and the Free State, and it will be done by the end of the current financial year, and in the Eastern Cape by the end of next year. – Drieka Burger