Lifeline for state land invaders

Didiza said a land inquiry process will be instituted on state land occupied without formal approval from the department, saying the inquiry will also assess farms that have been acquired through the Pro-Active Land Acquisition (PLAS) programme.

The minister said her department was aware that in some of the areas it was found that certain communities might have been utilising state land, knowingly or not, and that some people might have invaded state land.

Didiza said the land inquiry process will undertake a land audit on state land occupied without formal approval, and investigate and determine how individuals and communities currently occupying the land got access to it.

“…it will also look at what the land was currently utilised for and whether such use is in accordance with agricultural practices for that specific area, as we know that our ecological system is not the same from one part of the province to the other. Where such land has been used for settlement, the land inquiry process will bring in the department of human settlements and rural affairs as well as environment and fisheries so that better assessment could be used whether such land should be declared human settlement based on assessment and recommendations of the minister. A decision will be taken on the future of such occupations,” she said.

Didiza was speaking in Pretoria during the release of at least 896 underutilised or vacant, state farms measuring 700 000 hectares in the Eastern Cape, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape and North West.

The minister said these underutilised or idle farms will be made available to the public, with her department expected to issue advertisement notices for the occupation of the land in the next two weeks.

ALSO READ: Almost 900 state farms up for grabs – Didiza

“What we mean here is that it might happen that the land inquiry process find that the people using the land…maybe using it productively and may well be deserving candidates themselves and therefore, we will consider those issues in a positive light and we want say, to those people who occupy state land without any approval, it is important that they too, apply during this period,” she said.

Didiza said they have to strengthen their land administration system because this came out as a challenge from the land advisory panel set up by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2018/19.

“We will ensure that the land administration both national and provinces do work to ensure that these leases are managed appropriately,” she said.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.