|
Organised agriculture in South Africa says it finds Land Claims Commissioner Tozi Gwanya's land restitution remarks "strange".
Gwanya said on Monday that the willing buyer, willing seller principle would be ditched because farmers' asking prices for land were unrealistic.
"The announcement comes at a stage when the government is trying to garner investors' trust. Statements like this, unfortunately, have the opposite effect," said Agri SA president Lourie Bosman.
Bosman said Agri SA supported the speedy conclusion of the land restitution process, but not at the cost of generating new gripes.
| 'Get any obstacles out of the way' |
"That is why Agri SA is speaking to government and facilitating processes to get any obstacles out of the way."
Bosman said there were other problems frustrating restitution - not only the prices farmers were asking.
Agri SA and its affiliates had brought them to the attention of the Land Claims Commission.
They included:
An apparent lack of capacity in the research and verification of legitimate and valid claims.
Claims, which in the opinion of land owners, do not comply with the criteria for restitution.
Differences over which improvements should be included in the evaluation.
Disregard for market value in determining price and compensation.
A delay of up to three years in finalising claims where agreements had been reached between land owners and claimants.
"Agri SA's position is that only land subject to a valid claim can be expropriated for restitution purposes," said spokesperson Annelize Crosby.
"In many instances, there were disputes over the validity of claims, and these should be first decided in court.
"It would be wrong to hand over a claim before the validity of it is decided," she said.
Where restitution was used, the land owner must have the right to put their case.
This would include issues like fair compensation, she said.
Crosby said it was not true that the prices land owners were asking was the main reason why restitution had slowed.
"That point of view veils the reality and deflects the debate from the real problems that are not being acknowledged," she said.
"Private land owners cannot be expected to be economically compromised by the land restitution process. Although there are factors in determining the price of land, the market value is the starting point."
It was reported on Monday that South Africa will from next month start large-scale expropriations of land from white farmers after years of compensation negotiations proved unsuccessful.
"There are in excess of 7 000 claims that have been outstanding," Gwanya said.
"We have been negotiating with some white farmers for two or three years especially in four provinces - Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West and KwaZulu Natal - and this has to stop," he said.
"From March, we will begin expropriating land for which negotiations have gone on for that period or more," he said, explaining that a six-month deadline would be imposed on new cases.
"We cannot wait longer," said Gwanya. - Sapa
|
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Digg
Delicious
Newsvine
Facebook
muti
