Only one official of the Department of Rural Development & Land Affairs has been prosecuted for wide-scale corruption and fraud found by the Special Investigating Unit, according to Rapport. As reported previously, the SIU found thousands of beneficiaries of the state’s subsidy programme to buy land were either dead, have never set foot on a farm and are either family or friends of government officials.

The SIU singled out 43 cases for criminal prosecution. Departmental spokesperson Phuti Mabelebele reportedly said most of those implicated had resigned or retired before action could be taken. In five cases, the department claimed it didn’t have ‘jurisdiction’ over the officials to institute disciplinary action and one was unfit to be tried.

Mabelebele says the government had taken action since the the corruption was uncovered eight years ago, noting that 58 farms to the value of R150m have been transferred back to the state.

However, Rapport suggests, forfeiting farms to the state didn’t necessarily translate into corrective action. In one case – that of the Tangeni farm outside Dundee in KZN – the so-called ‘beneficiaries’ still control the farm and even rent out a section of the property for R68 500 a month despite the fact that it was supposedly handed back to the state in 2015. The SIU filed criminal charges in 2012, but no one has been arrested. According to the SIU report, the farm was bought for R23m on behalf of the Tangeni Land Trust, but most of the beneficiaries have never been to the farm and were also beneficiaries of other state projects.

The chairperson of the trust, Ayanda Bonga (33) is still on the farm and confirmed that he receives rent. He lives in a double-storey house and, according to Rapport, has several luxury cars. He also claims the government is fully aware that he is the recipient of considerable rent for state property.

‘The land belongs to us, even though we don’t have the documents. We never did anything wrong,’ he is quoted as saying. Other former beneficiaries are living in poverty on the farm and said they never knew why they had to give their ID document to the former owner and never received any benefit. The former owner who was involved with the formation of the trust to buy his farm, Gert Ehlers, denied any wrong-doing, saying he only wanted to help his workers. The official fingered by the SIU, Thembisile Mhlanzi, also denied wrong-doing and confirmed that she had moved on to another job without ever facing disciplinary action.

Full report in Rapport (subscription needed)