Enraged black farmer takes state to court to right broken promise of land
The government is opposing potentially landmark legal action from an elderly black farmer, who has gone to court to force the state to sell him the farm it promised him 15 years ago. Limpopo farmer David Rakgase, 77, has told the high court in Pretoria that the state’s broken promises had led to the 1,560ha farm in Nooitgedacht, Waterberg, being illegally occupied in May 2016 while he was waiting for an offer from the state. The family has worked the land for 27 years. Rakgase’s case represents the perfect example of someone who should have benefited from land reform, but has been let down by the state’s failure to execute a coherent land policy. His case, which comes soon after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced earlier in August that the ANC would support an amendment to the constitution to enable land expropriation without compensation, may put the governing party’s land strategy under the spotlight. At the very least, Rakgase’s case suggests that the state’s reluctance to sell ...
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