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- Western Cape farmer Ivan Cloete will no longer be evicted from his farm.
- Minister Thoko Didiza discovered that there were irregularities in the department’s land acquisition strategy in this regard.
- He presented a report to Parliament’s portfolio committee on agriculture, rural development and land reform on Monday.
The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development says an eviction order issued by the National Land Acquisition and Allocation Control Committee against a Western Cape farmer should be overturned.
This after an investigation into the matter began.
READ | An investigation will be launched into the eviction of a farm in the Western Cape
Farmer Ivan Cloete faced eviction from a farm that the department had previously assigned to him.
The eviction was allegedly carried out “to make way for an MK veteran.”
Cloete was assigned a farm in Colenso, but was later given a relocation notice.
However, in a report on the investigation carried out by the department – and presented to the chairman of the Agriculture, Agrarian Reform and Rural Development Portfolio Committee, Mandla Mandela – Minister Thoko Didiza said: “It is clear that, since 2012, Mr. Cloete was not treated fairly. “
“The reasons laid out in the investigation report highlight the suspicious predetermined decision of senior officials at the provincial and national levels to assign the farm to military veterans, leaving Mr. Cloete stranded once again,” Didiza said.
He added that the Cloete case highlighted inappropriate behavior and irregularities in the department’s land acquisition process.
“This case portrays the department as cruel and lacks empathy in dealing with real issues that affect lives and livelihoods.”
Western Cape Agriculture MEC Ivan Meyer said the Cloete saga was a “sad” story of injustice in the country’s land reform.
“Farmer Ivan Cloete can now celebrate Human Rights Day with his family and farm workers on his farm … this is a victory for all farmers in South Africa,” he said.
The district attorney welcomed Didiza’s report and said they would now call for disciplinary action against department officials who were “at the forefront of harassing Mr. Cloete with an illegal eviction order.”
“Cloete will now be assigned the Colenso farm, which is the farm on which she currently resides, and will be granted a 30-year lease on the same terms that apply to commercial leases,” said the DA deputy. Annette Steyn.
Steyn added:
In fact, the report goes on to say that: “From the investigation, it is clear that the Colenso farm was going to be assigned to Mr. Cloete, but senior Department officials decided to assign it to someone else.” This confirms what the district attorney has always argued, the DALRRD has been kidnapped by corrupt officials who took it upon themselves to distribute land to its preferred recipients while trampling on the rights of defenseless citizens who have no friends in high places.
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