Belinda Beresford
A landowner’s public battle to give half of his farm to black families has spurred other farmers to follow his example and face head-on the simmering issue of land redistribution in South Africa.
Roger Roman’s plan to give away his land to its black inhabitants has caused conflict with his neighbours and local council. Last November he embarked on a fast in an attempt to get the Hartebeespoort municipality to agree to his plan.
His arguments have sparked interest among white farmers anxious to avoid conflict with the government over the sensitive issue of land ownership. At least two other farmers in the area have approached the Department of Land Affairs to discuss similar plans.
Next week Roman plans to hand over title deeds for up to half his 13ha property to the Po Land Community, a group of 11 families who have been living on the land for generations.
Roman presents his plans as a pragmatic business decision. He says that although his land has been valued at more than half-a-million rand, it is unsaleable with the families in residence.
When he bought the property at a bargain price in 1995, it had been on the market for three years because of the black inhabitants. Some of the families on the land have been there for 150 years: the oldest inhabitant is a 97-year-old man who was born on the property.
Roman says he is caught in a catch-22 situation. Under current legislation people legally living on land have residence rights. So he cannot legitimately evict the people on his land, nor can he sell with the families in residence.
“So if I cut the land out then the value of the balance goes up and I can sell. From a financial point of view [I’m] better off,” he explains.
Roman says there are other advantages to his scheme. The black families are friendly neighbours, which adds to his security. Owning the land will give the community the ability to claim the R16 000 government housing subsidy to build houses instead of shacks.
Ownership also gives an incentive to people to maintain the area, and to prevent squatters from invading their land. It also provides people with an asset to sell, mortgage or rent at will, pulling them more into the formal economic world.
Roman says all three parties involved in land distribution – landowners, landless and the government – need to work together. “If the landowners and landless sit back and expect the government to deliver, it won’t work.”
He also called for landowners to recognise the financial constraints facing the government. “We don’t have the financial capacity or resources for the government to give anything like compensation. But if the emotive issue of land ownership is not resolved, the government may one day be pushed by political pressures to seize land without giving compensation, as has happened in Zimbabwe.”
Land affairs chief director for redistribution, land rights and development Lala Steyn says there is growing awareness of the importance of the issue of land ownership and redistribution.
Steyn says the department has received many inquiries from farmers around the country looking for proactive ways to address the issue. There have also been many cases of people selling land to black inhabitants at prices considerably below market value as a goodwill gesture, she said.
As an encouragement to landowners, the South African Revenue Service has agreed to waive donations tax on land given away for redistribution purposes. The first farm donated to black inhabitants was the Nelson’s Creek wine estate in the Cape, where the black owners now bottle their own wine.
According to the land affairs department, as of January 12, 310 land redistribution projects involving 36 819 households and 419 389ha had been approved.
While Roman is anxious to put forward the pragmatic arguments for giving away land as an incentive to other landowners, he himself is being more altruistic. When the title deeds to the land are handed over, he will probably have given up more than half his land.
Some will be held freehold by individual families, similar to a sectional title block, with the rest being communal to provide facilities such as a school. Inhabitants will also have to agree to a code of conduct covering such things as management of water, maintaining the area and looking at possible joint ventures such as making a tourist venture out of the old gold mine.
The Po Land Community is planning to build environmentally sensitive housing, with solar heating and biodegradable toilets instead of the ubiquitous long drop. The houses are being designed with two stories and the possibility of adding a third once finances allow.
Roman’s scheme has caused strong feelings. He alleges he has been manhandled twice by inhabitants of the area opposed to his plans, and has been threatened with legal action by the council.
However, Hartebeespoort mayor Pieter Rautenbach says the town council is “very much in favour” of Roman’s plans. Rather, the council was concerned about the way the issue had been handled.
He said the council had passed a resolution “in favour of small cluster villages for poor people around the dam” in 1996. However, the council had complaints with the way Roman had handled the issue, specifically since he had not applied to subdivide his land, and there had been complaints about the breaches of health by-laws.
Roman has also complained that the council has been housing its workers in unsanitary conditions on land next to a sewage works.
Rautenbach said the families on the area were illegal squatters. The council had suspended eviction proceedings at the request of local and national government and had repeatedly asked for money to buy land for the 58 families.
In an echo of Roman’s arguments, Rautenbach said the province simply did not have money to buy the land needed. In the meantime the council is looking at providing housing on council land and renting it to municipal workers. This would affect about 19 families, but Rautenbach said the council did not have enough land to provide for all families on the sewage site.
In unconscious acknowledgement of Roman’s arguments that private landowners need to work with the state, the mayor said the council is considering a business plan to force developers to provide housing for people who will work on the new, upmarket housing estates being built in the area.