The organisation AfriForum has published a list on its website of farms that are apparently identified by the government to be expropriated without compensation in the coming weeks.
Afriforum said on Sunday that it decided to publish the list follows the ANC’s announcement that the party had identified 139 farms for this purpose.
“The list of farms was kept confidential, however, and neither the party nor government was willing to make the list public,” Afriforum’s Ernst Roets.
He said however that they were able to obtain the document which he said was being circulated in the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform as a list of farms that will serve as test cases for this purpose.
“The document does not contain the details of 139 farms, however, but of 190 properties,” he said.
Roets said that a preliminary investigation indicated that the list probably contained many farms that have no history of land claims and on which there currently exists no dispute between the owners and the state.
“We expect that many a landowner will be shocked to learn that their property has been identified for this purpose. This is exactly why it is so important that the list is shared and for people to contact us.”
Roets adds that the document should serve as a wake-up call to those who still believe that government has good intentions and who still wonder whether expropriation without compensation will truly lead to greater food security.
“It is clear that the motif surely isn’t to correct historical mistakes, but that the process has ulterior political motives.”
According to the list 28 farms are in the Eastern Cape.
