Cape Town – In the next two weeks, government will issue notices for the leasing of almost 900 state farms measuring about 700,000 hectares.
This was announced by Agriculture and Land Reform Minister Thoko Didiza on Thursday, who said that underutilised or vacant state land would be handed over to the public.
The minister was addressing the media about the process to be followed by members of the public in applying for available agricultural state land as part of the government’s land reform programme.
She said that government would offer a 30-year leasehold, with an option to buy to all successful applicants. This kind of leasehold places certain obligations to the state as the landlord and the beneficiaries.
Didiza added that the land would be available in all provinces except the Western Cape and Gauteng.
“The Western Cape does not have state land that is due for release, however, in other programmes of land reform, as and when land is available, it will be released.”
She also said that obligation was on the beneficiaries to maintain the infrastructure on the land and its general upkeep.
“The beneficiary will have to manage, maintain and keep the record of assets received from the state.”
