BLOEMFONTEIN (Sapa) - Commercial farmers union Agri SA said it was stunned by suggestions that farmers should transfer up to 40 percent of their farm value to black shareholders as part of a new land reform scheme, Agri SA President Johannes Moller said on Thursday.
"It is unacceptable that several government officials have in recent months repeatedly made speculative and extremely controversial statements regarding land policy which undermines confidence and creates unrealistic expectations," he said.
In a recent interview with Beeld newspaper, Agriculture Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson said the government was investigating a shareholding scheme to replace the willing seller, willing buyer system to reach land reform targets.
Under such a scheme farmers might have to transfer up to 40 percent of their farm value to black shareholders as part of Black Economic Empowerment legislation.
"It is clear that the ANC struggles to find a workable model to give effect to the party's controversial Polokwane resolutions regarding accelerated land reform and an end to the willing buyer, willing seller approach," Moller reacted.
Agri SA said these resolutions placed the emphasis on the wrong point of departure, because a variety of factors other than the price of land contributed to the frustrations experienced with the slow progress of land reform.