Farmers willing to sell land
2003-10-01 09:52
Levubu - Ray Bresler, a farmer in the Levubu area, says not all farmers in Limpopo are opposed to land reform.
Bresler made the statement after speculation that land claims in the district could be a possible reason for the murder of Piet de Jager, 65, last weekend.
The Limpopo police are still searching for the murderers.
Several land claims have been submitted in the Levubu area, about 50kms from Makhado, since 2000. The Ravele, Nemadzivhandela, Masakhona, Tshikano and Ratombo tribes have submitted a claim for almost R700m.
Levubu is a fertile agricultural area where avocados, bananas, macadamia nuts, guavas and litchis are cultivated, mostly for export.
Stephen Hoffman of Arbor farms says Levubu has a turnover of about R500m a year.
Since the land claims have been handed in, farmers have split into three groups. Bresler belongs to the Laatsgevonden-Levubu land owners group. The Laatsgevonden farm comprises 32 separate farms owned by 21 farmers.
Twenty of the 21 farmers decided a while ago to put their farms up for sale, but De Jager, who was murdered last week, opposed the idea.
Bresler says the farmers "did everything they could" to complete the land claim successfully.
"We are not opposed to land reform. We have done everything we can. It's the land claims commission that's wasting time."
The Group of 23 farmers agree with Bresler that the government is delaying land claims. Paul Smit Sr, who belongs to the Group of 23, as well as the Laatsgevonden farmers, said some of the land owners agreed in 2001 to sell their land voluntarily, but they haven't heard from the land claims commission since.
Bresler says the Limpopo land claims commission has undertaken to complete valuation of farms in the area before the end of the month.
Arno Greyling of the Soutpansberg district agricultural union says they oppose land claims. Bertie le Roux, also a member of the union, says they asked archaeologists to conduct studies and they found that the claimants didn't own land in the area before or after 1913.