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Home » Farmer, 80, Finally Becomes Owner of Government Land He Bought in 2002

Farmer, 80, Finally Becomes Owner of Government Land He Bought in 2002

After an 18-year battle with the South African government to honor an agreement it made in 2002, Limpopo farmer David Rakgase, who is 80, finally owns his Nooitgedacht farm for the original price he offered. After the High Court ruled against the government and in favour of Rakgase in September 2019, the government has honoured […]

By SAPeople Contributor
26-05-20 15:13
in Fab South African Stuff
80-year-old-gets-farm-south-africa

After an 18-year battle with the South African government to honor an agreement it made in 2002, Limpopo farmer David Rakgase, who is 80, finally owns his Nooitgedacht farm for the original price he offered.

Rakgase and his son with DA MP Annette Steyn.

After the High Court ruled against the government and in favour of Rakgase in September 2019, the government has honoured the sales agreement for the original 2002 offer of R621,000.

In a statement today, the Democratic Alliance, which has been helping Rakgase with his case, welcomed the news. It said that if the ANC was serious about land reform and empowerment, it would have helped Rakgase rather than throw 18 years of obstacles in his way.

Rakgase signed a 30-year lease for his farm in 1991 and had been so successful that his cattle farm was used to train emerging black farmers.

He was offered the option to buy the land in 2002 under the now-defunct Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development programme, although a tug-of-war with the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development ensued.

“The DA met Mr Rakgase about six years ago and sought to find a way to help him acquire what was rightfully his by financing the legal means to take his case to court,” said Annette Steyn, DA Shadow Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development.

She said: “Mr Rakgase is a brave man, he kept on fighting for his right. A humble man, all he wanted was to leave the land to his children. It was a humbling experience to help him in achieving this.”

Steyn said: “This again demonstrates that the ANC does not wish to partner with farmers – black or white – to correct and compensate for the wrongs of the past. Instead, the ANC wants to abuse its control of the state to own all land in South Africa, and simply make farmers tenants on the land they work, unable to use the land as collateral and beholden to the whims of ANC authoritarianism.”

According to Steyn, “the ANC Government continues to falsely promote expropriation of land without compensation as a means to empower emerging farmers. This will aggravate, not resolve the problems of its failed land reform process.

“The real barriers to land reform include a totally incapable department, rampant corruption, deviousness and a Marxist antipathy to property ownership for individuals. Mr Rakgase’s case illustrates this clearly – and it is only one example of the barriers preventing a whole category of emerging black farmers from owning the land they are farming.”

Steyn said: “If the ANC government were serious about land reform and empowerment, this was a simple case to resolve, and empower a successful farmer. But, instead of fully supporting Mr Rakgase and honouring the sales agreement, the Department did everything in its power to make sure that the land in question was not sold to Mr Rakgase at the price agreed. Instead the Department did everything possible to block the transaction.

“The only thing left to do for Mr Rakgase to finally own his land is for the deed to be transferred in his name. We hope that the Department will not drag its heels in this regard as well.”