Government in the dark about productivity of land reform farms worth R56 billion
18 August 2020
The Democratic Alliance (DA) will write to the Minister of Land Reform and Rural Development, Thoko Didiza, requesting that she provides clarity on when her Department plans to institute a comprehensive productivity assessment on all farms that have been bought by government for land reform purposes since 1994.
An assessment of budget documents since 1994 shows that government has spent over R53 billion rand on land reform. According to a Parliamentary reply by the Minister of Land Reform and Rural Development, Thoko Didiza, despite spending a further R3 billion recapitalising land reform farms, her Department does not know if they are productive or not.
The R56 billion spent on land reform and recapitalisation does not include the R46 billion that the government has spent on land restitution during the same period.
It is simply astounding that government has spent billions of rand on land reform, with plans to spend more, but has never bothered to review the state of productivity on land reform farms.