7000 Square Kms of Unused State Land to be Leased Out

The government will release 700,000 hectares, the equivalent of 7000 square kilometres, of vacant state land in the next two weeks and lease it to qualifying applicants.

The vacant or underutilised land is made of of 896 farms in all provinces except the Western Cape and Gauteng, according to a statement today by Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Minister Thoko Didiza. The biggest portion is in the North West (300,000 ha), then Limpopo (121,567 ha), Eastern Cape (43,000 ha) and Mpumalanga (40,206 ha).

Notices would be posted on local, district and provincial media, she said, and after that the process of application and selection would begin. The National Selection and Approval Committee would consider all recommendations and approve suitable applications, she said, adding this would take approximately three weeks.

Since the announcement in February during President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address, 135,117 ha of land have been released by the department to 275 farmers.

– From SAnews.gov.za