A total of 8Â 759 people were evicted from farms around the country in the five-year period from 2002 to 2006, according to Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister Lulu Xingwana.
In written reply to a question in the National Assembly by the Freedom Front Plus’s Pieter Groenewald on Monday, she said of these 4Â 674 were illegal and 4Â 085 legal evictions.
KwaZulu-Natal accounted for well over half (58,7%) of all evictions with 5Â 143 — 2Â 611 illegal and 2Â 532 legal.
Gauteng followed with 2Â 157 — 1Â 102 illegal and 1Â 055 legal.
The Northern Cape had the fewest evictions in the past five years (three legal and 23 illegal), followed by Limpopo (18 illegal and 10 legal).
Xingwana said it was ”unfortunately not possible to provide accurate month-to-month statistics on evictions for the past five years”.
In a statement on Monday, Groenewald said despite this acknowledgement, Xingwana’s department had launched an advertising campaign in December, which stated that ”evictions of farm workers from their houses generally take place in especially that time of the year”.
”This answer of the minister is proof that the advertisement had no substance and was therefore implausible.
”It is irresponsible of the minister to, without having proper facts, allow the placement of advertisements which are contentious, disputable and that arouse emotions,” he said.
Xingwana also said in her reply that these cases were reported to her department and the department’s social partners.
However, the accuracy of the figures was questionable.
Legal evictions could easily be verified, as they were usually accompanied by legal action.
”Sometimes people feel that they are being illegally evicted, when it is indeed a legal eviction and it can rightly be asked how these cases are being reported,” he said. — Sapa