RDM News Wire |

07 September, 2015

The current land claims process would not be completed in a lifetime‚ in fact‚ at the current rate it would take 1‚000 years to finalise the expected 379‚000 claims and 55 years to finalise the 20‚737 claims filed in the first quarter of this year‚ TAU SA said.

Louis Meintjes‚ TAU SA president was responding to recent figures tabled in Parliament’s portfolio committee on Rural Development and Land Reform.

“TAU SA was correct in its in warning that government will open a can of worms by opening a new claims process and that government would not be able to handle it‚” said Meintjes.

“It is clear that unrealistic goals were set which have not been considered properly.

“The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform suffer‚ like many other departments‚ from a lack of capacity and expertise‚ whilst still being driven by a political agenda and an ideology which is visibly failing.

“The ANC government apparently did not learn from the costly lessons from elsewhere in the world. The result is that farmers remain uncertain about their future‚ new entrants hesitate to get involved in agriculture‚ and consumers are starting to become more worried whether there will be food on the table and what the price will be‚” he said.

“Meanwhile‚ all is not well with the country’s economy and it is hovering on the brink of a recession.

“A responsible government would now pay all its attention to the recovery of the economy and would suspend this unworkable land claims process immediately. Unfortunately we have learned to know the ANC government as being irresponsible which means that we can expect even worse conditions to follow‚” said Meintjes.

He encouraged farmers to remain positive and to continue providing consumers with food on the table.

“In the event of a land claim farmers should not get upset too quickly but contact TAU SA. We are still the primary food producers‚ not due to government but despite government.”