David Rakgase, 78, has been struggling to buy the farm Nooitgedacht near Northam from government. He had been leasing the 3,179 hectare farm.

The High Court in Pretoria set aside the decision of the deputy director-general of the department of rural development and land reform not to approve the sale of the farm and ordered that government should within 30 days sell the farm to Rakgase on the terms and conditions and price which would have applied if the farm had been sold to him under the land redistribution for agricultural development programme in 2003.

In 2003 the department of rural development and land reform accepted his offer to purchase the farm,  this after the department had offered him the option of buying the farm as a beneficiary of the government’s now discontinued land redistribution for agricultural development programme.

Rakgase approached the court after it emerged that government would not sell the land and would instead offer him a lease agreement for another 30 years.

Rakgase had been farming at the Nooitgedacht farm during the erstwhile Bophuthatswana era and the land was eventually transferred to the Limpopo provincial government after the 1994 election.

He had leased the farm from government since April 1991, and had never defaulted on his rental payments. He has run a successful farm, as well as a mentorship programme assisting young emerging farmers with training and development.

He was asked whether he would like to exercise his option to purchase the farm as an land redistribution for agricultural development programme beneficiary in 2002. He accepted and confirmed his intention to purchase – which government approved.

Later, he received a letter from the Limpopo provincial government confirming that he was the new owner.

However, in 2011, he was made to sign a new five-year lease agreement with the department of rural development and land reform, despite government confirming eight years earlier that they were in the process of transferring the land and title into his full ownership.

The Democratic Alliance said they welcomed the  Pretoria High Court ruling compelling the state to sell Nooitgedacht farm to Rakgase.

"The DA was in court to support Mr. Rakgase, who, for the past 16 years has been struggling to purchase the farm from government.

"This ruling sets an important precedent, as countless other black, small-scale farmers can finally challenge the ANC governemt’s failure in land reform. Mr Rakgase is not the only emerging black farmer that has been dealt a bad hand by government. There are many others who have suffered a similar fate due to the ANC’s fragmented land redistribution position," said Annette Steyn, DA  spokesperson on rural development and land reform.

In October 2017, DA leader Mmusi Maimane visited Rakgase and other farmers in Northam, he told them that the DA would take legal action against the government over the issue of transfer of land to emerging farmers.

ANA