Blame game in farmer and community land row

Claimants of farmland outside Hartbeespoort Dam in North West are up in arms demanding that a farmer leave their land.

They also want Henning Pretorius, who previously owned the land, to pay monies allegedly due to his workers.

But the farmer has shifted the blame on the community.

Farmer shifted blame on community

Pretorius said the community failed to work the land and left him to do the farming and manage the property in the Madibeng municipal area, although the project was a joint venture.

He alleged that the community retrenched 400 farm workers from the project, known as Khutso Naketsi Agric, and failed to pay them severance packages.

The land, near Lakeland and Arrow Rest in Hartbeespoort, was bought by the government for R400 million, inclusive of all assets for redistribution in 2019.

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In terms of the arrangement, the community owned 70% of the project while Pretorius owned 30% share.

Pretorius confirmed the arrangement.

Last week, the community gathered on the farm and demanded a meeting with Pretorius, whom they accused of refusing to allow them to participate in managing and working the farm, despite being shareholders.

Meeting last week

According to Motape Motoke, who is mediating between the two sides, it was resolved that the farmer operate jointly with the community, who were also directors, but Pretorius refused.

A community shareholder in the project, Israel Mogale said: “The community has owned the land for the past five years.

“They own 70% of the business, but Pretorius has taken some assets out although the contract has ended.”

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The community took the matter to court and won against the farmer, who was ordered to share it with them.

Pretorius appealed the ruling and allegedly took advantage of the appeal period and continued to run the property on his own.

The community also accused Pretorius of retrenching workers from 1 000 to 400, claiming the farm was not making profit.

Community claim farm not making profit

Motoke said the first group of workers were retrenched in 2021 and others later.

Some 500 workers had reportedly given their money as loans to the farming business but 400 of them had since also been retrenched.

“After the workers loaned him money, he decided to retrench them haphazardly in groups,” Motope said.

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Pretorius’ lease on the land expired in June and the community is claiming the property for development.

“The farmer has not paid the workers and is in the process of vacating the farm,” Motoke said.

“But the community is refusing to have the farmer relocate without paying their outstanding salaries and benefits.”

Community refusing to have farmer relocate without paying

Last week, police were called and a stand-off ensued as the community members refused to allow Pretorius to take horses and other assets without paying the workers their dues.

Among the assets on the farm are tractors, irrigation systems, stud horses that were for sale on the farm and vehicles the aggrieved community wanted the farmer to leave behind as compensation for allegedly unpaid money.

But Pretorius hit back. He said he sold the farm to the government, which bought it for the community.

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He claimed he was told to stay and manage the farm for five years while working with the community who were the beneficiaries of the land to pass farming skills to them.

However, his contract with the community ended in June.

He then offered to lease the farm from the community in order to keep the 400 workers employed, but the community refused and decided to farm it themselves.

Community wants to farm land themselves

The farmer said community members were not participating on the project but only came to attend meetings.

“The problem is they never started farming.

“They have run out of money and now they are making me a scapegoat,” Pretorius said.

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There was a resolution that as the farmer was running the farm and paying out of his pocket, the first profit from the project would pay him back, but that never happened.

“The community itself retrenched the workers, but they had no money to pay their severance packages.

“They blame me for the problem, in fact I am paying the workers out of my own pocket for November because the community retrenched them but they had no money for that.

‘They had no money for that’

“I also made a loan available for to pay for this month and the severance packages of the workers.

“I am giving them a loan,” Pretorius said.

He denied attempting to take the property on the farm, saying all the assets were still there and needed to be sold to pay the workers’ salaries and other costs.

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