From Liberty Voice

It is becoming a matter of great public concern that agricultural investment is potentially set to suffer once more, as the land claims issue in South Africa rears its ugly head again. Before 1998, a total of 79,000 land claims were filed and more than 8,000 land claims have not been addressed, while the remainder have not been finalized. Over 39,000 commercial farmers have not come to terms with the handling of these claims.

The Department of Rural Development (DRD) wants to tackle more than 400,000 land claims when the system is reopened. The farms are not unlisted, and in the case where the government bought and transferred 42 of the 715 farms, the farmers remain unsure of what will transpire. Some involved have taken this as an indication of how they believe that allegedly corrupt land officials will add these to the list, resulting in thousands of farms remaining to deal with unresolved claims. No indication is given when this issue will be finalized.

The number of outstanding claims is unknown currently, and although the DRD reported that they had received 63000 claims to parliament, the number grows annually. There is no indication when the list will be made available.

When a claim against a farm is made, this is gazetted, and the owner is forced to prevent any development or investment in the land. The farmers comply, unable or unwilling to continue to improve the land knowing the government’s decision to use the new expropriation bill more aggressively and not pay market prices for goods produced.

The restitution practice in South Africa shows signs of being a failure, impacting the agricultural sector internationally. Recently at an investment conference in Hanover, Germany, European agricultural business leaders verbally attacked the South African government’s unilateral cancellation of investments. They referenced the proposed expropriation of foreign-held property in exchange for long-term lease agreements as “madness.” There is an indication that they fear their investments are not safe and are taking precautionary measures.

Read more at Liberty Voice