Government in contempt of Court as it drags its feet in selling land to Limpopo farmer
19 November 2019
The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) is dragging its feet in selling Nooitgedacht farm in Limpopo, to Mr. David Rakgase. This, despite a landmark North Gauteng High Court judgment in September compelling the State to sell the farm to Mr. Rakgase, who has been farming Nooitgedacht for almost 30 years.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has been informed that the Department has failed to make any contact with Mr. Rakgase regarding his purchasing of the farm and that his lawyers have now written to the Department as their inaction is in contempt of the Court.
We are of the view that the Department never had any intention of selling the farm to Mr. Rakgase and is now seemingly attempting to further frustrate the process despite the High Court judgment. The DA has no doubt that the Department will attempt to blame the delay on bureaucratic processes in order to thwart Mr. Rakgase’s attempts to seek justice.
Mr. Rakgase has been struggling to buy his farm for more than 16 years. In 2002, he was offered the option of buying the farm as a beneficiary of the now discontinued Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development (LRAD) programme, however, he was left with no choice but to take the Department to court after it emerged that it would not honour its promise to sell the farm.