Test case over compensations for white farmers

The Commission insists it\'s not discriminating against whites who have lodged land claims. ‘If whites were removed to create homelands, then this meets the (Restitution Act\'s) criteria of racially motivated dispossession,’ says Chief Commissioner Tozi Gwanya. But the Commission argues that most whites were well rewarded for leaving their farms. The law automatically disqualifies claims if ‘just and equitable compensation’ can be proved. Almost all of a total of about 60 claims lodged by whites have been dismissed. The affected farmers are likely to rely on two previous cases won by white land owners. In 2003 Charles Randall and Andrew Knott became the first white landowners to receive payouts for unfair expropriation under apartheid after reaching a negotiated settlement ratified by the court. In the second case the court ruled that the late Rudolf Opperman was entitled to compensation after the apartheid government forced him to sell his Limpopo farm at below market value. The Commission is appealing this ruling. Full Financial Mail report

Six more white-owned farms face expropriation after a breakdown in negotiations for an agreed sale. Peter Mhangwani, the Land Claims Commissioner of the northern Mpumalanga province, is quoted in media reports as saying he had run out of patience after land owners either refused access to surveyors or demanded unrealistic prices. ‘The high prices stall the restitution process,’ said the Commissioner. ‘We cannot wait any longer. That is why I have six expropriation applications on my desk.’ According to a report on the IoL site, Mhangwani said the expropriation orders had still to be assessed by the province\'s lawyers but, if implemented, would mark a significant acceleration in efforts to rectify apartheid land-ownership imbalances. Full report on the IoL site