The eviction of farmers from their profitable farming enterprises by ‘rogue officials’ of the Department of Agriculture, Rural Development & Land Reform has resulted in claims of more than R2bn being instituted against the department, according to the 2019/2020 report of the Auditor-General.

Farmers who have lost hundreds of thousands of rands as a result of the evictions reportedly told Business Day the ‘dubious eviction orders’ go against the government’s plans to release 700 000ha of state land on 30-year leaseholds to black farmers.

Rosalie Kingwill, a research associate and land expert at the University of the Western Cape’s Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, is quoted as saying the evictions are all ‘part of the pattern’ relating to the department advertising state land for leasing and then having ‘no system for considering the rights of the current occupiers and lessees’.

This leaves room for ‘potential abuse of power and corruption'.

‘The courts should be the last resort when conflicts cannot be resolved through administrative processes, but since our administrative processes are non-existent, the courts become the first resort. This may solve some issues of law, but in some cases the judgments may not be enforced or they may not have lasting or widescale impact,’ she said.

As reported previously, one of those affected is Ivan Cloete, who has been a pig farmer since 2003 and was in a legal dispute with the department after having been ordered to hand over his Colenso farm.

However, on Friday, notes Business Day, DA spokesperson Annette Steyn announced that the department had decided to ‘withdraw its unlawful eviction order’ against Cloete and restore his full farming rights to the Colenso farm.

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