The ANC has formulated an idea to begin ​​taxation on unused land in the hope that it will make more land available for redistribution as part of its transformation agenda.

But observing this development agriculture lobby group TLU SA has called upon the ANC to explain what it means by “unused land”.
Says the TLU: “Perhaps the ANC is referring to the land that it recognised in terms of its land transfer programmes, 95% of which went out of production?” For, allowing a field to lie fallow or a grazing camp to rest hardly constitutes “unused land.”

“When a farmer rests certain camps in a rotation programme, it is far from unused, and scientific sustainability has been built in there,” says TLU SA president Henry Geldenhuys.
Geldenhuys adds: “The ANC must decide whether it wants food security or not. With this policy, (the ANC) is putting our country’s food production under the wrong kind of pressure. This approach of trying to get hold of land can at best be seen as a way of getting votes”.

 

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