Communal Property Association
Land reform beneficiaries should be able to choose the kind of landholding entity they want to form. Counter to the DRDLR’s Policy Paper on CPAs, people should not be prevented from forming CPAs in communal areas or where traditional authorities (TAs) exist, as this would deny people’s ability to choose the landholding entity that best fits their needs and their land tenure practices (including customary practices).
To my humble opinion, the only option would be to first of all get a completely unbiased and independent body to verify and list the beneficiaries of the whole area called farm 39. Identify the current occupants and historical owners of properties and give them title deeds.
Survey the lands to establish the different agricultural areas and its current use, as well as commonages. As soon as a beneficiary list has been compiled, shares could be issued to all beneficiaries, who then have the option to either trade such shares only within the share group, or keep it, to be part of any government scheme to fund development thereof. Rules for the structured use of commonages and any other property of communual interest could be established by a democratically elected body.
At the moment only a select few are enjoying benefits of small scale agricultural subsidies by government with no real transparency in due processes.
By giving all beneficiaries a share of tangible value, the system would enable the industrious aspirant farmers in the community to develop a proper farm with the added value to the community of job creation.
This are a very rough and broad based idea, that could be the starting point of Genadendal becoming a growth point and model for the fair development of such communual trust lands.
Thank you Guy, a very constructive and positive contribution to this debate. You have made some valuable and valid points that need to be be added to the mix in finding a workable solution to the current impasse. The sole purpose of the Ward 2 Forums articles have been to highlight the current situation and to illicit further debate in a bid to resolve the ongoing saga.
The local authority (TWK) had previously appointed such a independent consultant (Urban Dynamics) to do exactly what you are proposing, but alas we have yet to see the outcome thereof. An enormous sum of money had been set aside for the whole process of “Transformation” (Land Tenure). The sum of money amounted to tens of millions, this was either not spent, misspent or just misappropriated. The current status quo has thus been on going for almost 14 years now and is of great concern for the overall economic growth and employment potential for the whole area. One can only imagine the impact a fully functional Farm 39 will have on the whole area economically.
The question therefore needs to be asked what have the 2 responsible entities done or not done to contribute to the current situation. The 2 entities I am referring to are: Department Rural Development & Theewaterskloof Municipality.
Let us hope that by opening the debate again we will get all interested and affected parties around a table to discuss and find workable solutions going forward.