The struggle for land reform in South Africa: why black farmers are still waiting

IOL News

3 hours ago

The Black Farmers' Association of South Africa says that land redistribution must be transparent, timely, and supportive of farmers' growth from subsistence to full commercial scale.
Image: Karen Sandison / Independent Newspapers
Black farmers who need to expand their production have pleaded with authorities for assistance after being unsuccessful in securing farm leases from the Department of Land Reform and Rural Development.
They say that the delays in accessing land are limiting their productivity and contribution to the country's food safety due to its failure to give them land.
One farmer said: 'I have been farming on about 100ha with stud and commercial herds, and have applied for farm to lease more than five times, to no avail.'
He added that the only thing that will help farmers like him is a commercial bank, but livestock is not collateral.
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Another farmer said: 'I would like to know what criteria the Land Reform Department uses to award land. I have been applying for such a long time to no avail. I am a poultry and bee farmer, and I'm also a vegetable farmer. I have grown from five village chickens to thousands of broiler chickens. The challenge is that I am only using 2,700Sqm of land for residence and farming.
'I farm what I can with limited resources, but grow from there. I would really like a bigger piece of land. The main purpose is to grow at least 40,000 broilers per cycle and bring in goats for milk, and be able to grow the required feed myself.'
Dr Lennox Mtshagi, president of the Black Farmers' Association of South Africa (BFASA), said they are fully aware of the frustration expressed by their members regarding the slow and often opaque process of accessing agricultural land.
'The slow pace of land release stalls agricultural expansion, limits food security contributions, and keeps many black farmers in subsistence mode rather than commercial production. Lack of transparency in allocation fosters mistrust, discourages investment, and perpetuates inequality. Farmers cannot plan long-term without knowing if, when, or where they will receive land,' Mtshagi said.
He added that since 2019, BFASA has formally engaged the department through written submissions, ministerial meetings, and parliamentary portfolio committee briefings.
'We have specifically called for the immediate release of the 2.5 million hectares currently under the State Land Lease and Disposal Policy, a transparent, published database of land available for allocation and inclusion of farmer organisations like BFASA in the vetting process to ensure fairness and speed,' Mtshagi said.
While leasehold can be a starting point, it severely limits a farmer's ability to access bank financing, secure long-term contracts with buyers, and make infrastructure investments such as irrigation systems and packhouses. BFASA has been clear that secure tenure, preferably through full title, is essential for building generational wealth and sustainable agribusiness, he said.
He added that the recurring challenges faced by black farmers applying for land include lengthy application timelines with no clear status updates, complex paperwork that is not farmer-friendly, inconsistent provincial implementation of national policy, lack of published criteria for successful allocation, and political gatekeeping, where deserving applicants are bypassed in favour of politically connected individuals.
'We are lobbying for policy change to prioritise ownership models, establishing partnership frameworks with private landowners willing to lease or sell directly to black farmers, using legal channels to challenge unfair allocation practices, and launching a national land reform tracker to monitor DLRRD performance.
'BFASA believes that land reform success depends on partnerships. We propose a multi-stakeholder Land Reform Council with the government, private sector, and farmer organisations. Blended finance models where banks, government grants, and private equity co-fund land acquisition and development, and public-private training hubs to ensure land recipients have the skills to farm commercially,' Mtshagi said.
He added that BFASA remains committed to ensuring that land reform is not a political slogan, but a lived reality for black farmers.
'Access to land is the foundation of food security, rural development, and economic transformation. Our position is clear: redistribution must be transparent, timely, and supportive of farmers' growth from subsistence to full commercial scale,' Mtshagi said.
Linda Page, spokesperson for the Department of Land Reform and Rural Development, said there is a transparent process for applications for land, which begins with an advert published on the department's website and other platforms, including newspapers.
She referred to the Beneficiary Selection and Land Allocation Policy, which lists key aspects, as prioritising specific previously disadvantaged groups, ensuring a fair and transparent process, the policy providing a standardised national land application system.
The policy also seeks to ensure that selected beneficiaries have the necessary skills and capacity to maintain and utilise the allocated land productively, among others.
On the land that is in the hands of the government, Page said: 'The 2.5 million hectares are already leased out to black farmers and individuals, in line with the policy mentioned above. Therefore, the land in question is already in the hands of black farmers and other black individuals, and it is being used. The department acquired this land through the Pro-active Land Acquisition Strategy, and as indicated, it is leased out for different land use purposes.'
She added that this land is not merely acquired and held by the department; it is in use through leaseholds.
In 1994, total farm land with title deeds, thus outside what the apartheid government set aside for black people, covered 77.58 million hectares of South Africa's total surface area of 122 million hectares.
During his 2024 State of the Nation Address, President Cyril Ramaphosa said: 'Through redistribution, around 25% of farmland in our country is now owned by black South Africans, bringing us closer to achieving our target of 30% by 2030.'
This gives a total of 19.3 million hectares or 24.9% of the total of all freehold farmland in South Africa, previously owned by white landowners, that has been restored, redistributed to black South Africans, or moved away to state ownership, according to agricultural experts from Stellenbosch University.
Professor Johann Kirsten, the director of the Bureau for Economic Research at Stellenbosch University, said the issue of concern is that the state is now a major owner of agricultural land with more than 2.5 million hectares, which had been acquired by June 2023.
This is through the Agricultural Land Holding Account Trading Entity, which acquires land and property under the Proactive Land Acquisition Scheme, implemented in 2006 to allow state ownership for programme lessees.
'Most of the roughly 2,500 beneficiaries have a 30-year lease agreement with the state. There are several farms where no agreement has been signed. The arrangement makes reference to the leasing of land. But there's no mention of the transfer or sale of land to beneficiaries,' he said.
In a piece co-authored by Kirsten and Wandile Sihlobo, a senior fellow at the Department of Agricultural Economics at Stellenbosch University, and published by The Conversation, they highlight that calls for the state to redistribute the 2.5 million hectares of land to black farmers have fallen on deaf ears, and black farmers continue to despair.
'The government has been slow to distribute the land it has acquired. This shows that the problem of South Africa's land reform is not only about acquisition but also the distribution of land with title deeds to beneficiaries,' Kirsten and Sihlobo said.
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