In 2011 South Africa youth leader Julius Malema told his supporters that the white farmer’s land must be sharedby all black Africans.
He was arrested for playing “Kill the Boer (white man)” song at his rallies.
South Africa has targeted the first two farms for unilateral seizure after the owners refused an offer of one-tenth of the land’s value.
THE Black leaders in the South African government have begun the process of seizing land from white farmers.
Local newspaper City Press reports two game farms in the northern province of Limpopo are the first to be targeted for unilateral seizure after negotiations with the owners to purchase the properties stalled.
While the government says it intends to pay, owners Akkerland Boerdery wanted 200 million rand ($18.7 million) for the land — they’re being offered just 20 million rand ($1.87 million).
“Notice is hereby given that a terrain inspection will be held on the farms on April 5, 2018 at 10am in order to conduct an audit of the assets and a handover of the farm’s keys to the state,” a letter sent to the owners earlier this year said.
Akkerland Boerdery obtained an urgent injunction to prevent eviction until a court had ruled on the issue, but the Department of Rural Development and Land Affairs is opposing the application.
“What makes the Akkerland case unique is that they apparently were not given the opportunity to first dispute the claim in court, as the law requires,” AgriSA union spokeswoman Annelize Crosby told the paper.
These farms are on the goverment's #farmlist that ?@afriforum? exposed. And yet government still denies that the list exists… but it is now clear that government is lying to the public. https://t.co/U40G0U1GIv
— Kallie Kriel (@kalliekriel) August 19, 2018
It comes as the South African government pushes ahead with plans to amend the country’s constitution to allow for the expropriation of land without compensation.
The seizures are intended to test the ability of the government to take land under existing laws, which the ruling African National Congress has previously stated is allowable if “in the public interest”.
Earlier this month, City Press reported the government had drawn up a list of 139 farms it planned to seize “to test out” section 25 of the constitution.
The newspaper said employees at the department had been ordered to press ahead with the process at the Land Claims Court.
If the seizures go ahead, it would be the first time the state refuses to pay market value for land. Since the end of apartheid in 1994, the ANC has followed a “willing seller, willing buyer” process to redistribute white-owned farms to blacks.
Afriforum, a civil-rights group representing the white Afrikaner minority, subsequently released what it claimed to be a leaked list of 190 farms “being circulated in the department”, inviting farmers to check if they were on it and asking them to get in touch “so that we can prepare for a joint legal strategy”.
Earlier this month, cattle farmer Jo-an Engelbrecht told the ABC’s Foreign Correspondent his farm just outside Johannesburg was now “worth zero”.
“We had several auctions in the last two or three weeks cancelled because there was no people interested in buying the land,” he said. “Why would you buy a farm to know the government’s going to take it?”
Black leaders recently called for new law to confiscate land from white farmers.
It’s relevant and important to share CiC Julius Malema speech on expropriation of land without compensation #LandExpropriation #EFFMotion pic.twitter.com/NEhV8JeXxY
— Azania Afrika (@SAYoungLion) February 27, 2018
On Sunday night Julius Malema called on his followers to go after the white man and cut the throat of whiteness.
Julius Malema: Go after a white man… We are cutting the throat of whiteness.”
