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'Use it or lose it' policy abused by Land Affairs

Lawyers for Human Rights has been shocked by the recent threats of Ms Lulu Xingwana, the Minister of Land Affairs and her apparent "use it or lose it" land distribution policy.  LHR is representing Ms Veronica Moos, a beneficiary of the land redistribution policy, who has recently seen her occupation of her farm personally violated by the Minister.  It appears that the Minister has used the failings of the Department of Land Affairs to give adequate support to the beneficiaries of land distribution as an election ploy. 

PLAS (Proactive Land Acquisition Strategy) was a strategy implemented by DLA in order to redistribute land for agricultural purposes.  This strategy should include a post-settlement support system to give black farmers the tools and resources needed in order to make their farms productive.  Unfortunately, the support systems do not exist and new black farmers are often left without the necessary tools to create workable farms.  Despite the lack of support, these new farmers are often threatened with having their farms taken away from them and given to someone else if DLA is not satisfied with the production on the farm. 

In 2007, Ms Veronica Moos was allocated a farm under this project and has been actively working at making the farm productive despite a lack of support from DLA.  She was never given a copy of the policy and was ignored every time she wrote letters asking for a copy of the policy.  After she was allocated the farm, she was given R200 000 in subsidies, but was given no further support.  She has struggled to get proper electricity on the farm and had to wait two years before getting a copy of the lease.  Ms Moos has attempted to make use of the farm, but with the limited support given to her, it has been difficult. 

This has not stopped the Minister Xingwana from using her situation and threatening to remove the farm from her under the much touted "use it or lose it" policy.  Ms Moos was recently sent a letter from DLA demanding that she leave the farm "at her earliest convenience".  The apparent reason was that DLA was not satisfied that she was using the farm according to the policy, the policy which they have thus far refused to share with her. 

But the situation has gone far beyond a poorly worded letter.  The Minister herself has personally attended the farm on several occasions and entered buildings without Ms Moos' permission.  Her bodyguards have intimidated their way onto the farm and have forced the farmworker to give up some of his private lodgings to house the Minister's men.  We now understand that the Minister has planned a press event on the farm to use it as an example of her new policy. 

The actions of the Minister are extremely distressing.  At the core of SA's land reform and redistribution is human dignity, with a view of righting the wrongs of the past.  Ms Moos remembers as a child when the police came and destroyed her home in District 6 in Cape Town.  She cannot help but relive those events on her own farm 15 years after the first democratic elections. 

LHR will be bringing an urgent application in order to restore Ms Moos' occupancy of the farm.  LHR will also challenge the Minister and her department to show proof of Ms Moos' inability to manage her farm as well as the details of the PLAS strategy and the support which must accompany it. 

Farmers from all parts of South Africa will understand the hardships and difficulties in managing farms.  It is all the more difficult for new farmers who are dependent on the support by government programmes in order to fully exploit their farms and make them workable and productive. 

Therefore, we call on the Minister of Land Affairs and her department to realize these hardships and to do the following:

  • Disclose in writing the PLAS strategy and all support mechanisms that must accompany it;
  • Stop all unlawful occupation and violation of the possessory rights of beneficiaries under these and other resettlement programmes;
  • End the electioneering ploys on Ms Moos' farm and work together with her and other stakeholders to ensure that she has the support needed to make a productive farm.

For more information, please contact Louise du Plessis or Jacob van Garderen at 012-320-2943