SA farmer could lose farm

2005-10-14 22:57

Johannesburg - South Africa has served its first official notice of expropriation on a livestock farmer who has rejected the government's purchase offer, said the land ministry on Friday.

Hannes Visser, of Lichtenburg in North West province, about 250km west of Johannesburg, was served with a notice of intent on Thursday, said Eddie Mohoebi of the land affairs ministry.

"The notice was served yesterday. Once we have served a notice of expropriation, the farmer has 21 days to respond or to appeal directly to the (lands) minister.

"If he appeals, the minister has the discretion to hold a hearing and the minister has got discretionary powers to summon anyone, including the farmer and including the commission itself to hear both sides of the story," said Moheobi.

But if the minister decided after the hearing that the farmer should vacate the property, he would have to do so under a deadline specified by the minister, failing which he would be in breach of the law, he said.

Government offered R1.75m

"The minister then has the right to summon enforcement agencies to affect the move forcibly."

The Commission on Restitution of Land Rights last month announced that a notice would be served on Visser after 2½ years of negotiations failed to produce a settlement.

The government offered to buy the 500ha cattle and crop farm for R1.75m, but Visser rejected the offer, saying his farm was worth R3m.

Visser, 47, has said he might turn to the courts to try and get more money from the government for his property.

According to the land claims commission, which confirmed that this was the first commercial farm to be expropriated in South Africa, the property originally belonged to Abram Molamu.

The commission said "the original owners of the property were dispossessed through forced-sale transactions" by the apartheid government.

'Farmers want high prices'

That land was bought by Visser's father in 1968, and his son took over the farm 11 years ago, just as South Africa elected Nelson Mandela as its first black president.

Only 4% of farmland is owned by blacks in South Africa, where the government has vowed to have 30% black ownership by 2015, a target officials have said will require a more-aggressive approach.

The government has complained that white farmers are setting high prices for their land under the willing-seller, willing-buyer principle that has underpinned land reform since 1994.

- AFP