Court returns land to Beaufort West land reform beneficiaries

Clarence Ford speaks to Cecile van Schalkwyk, attorney at the Legal Resources Centre.

Listen to the interview in the audio below.

Three coloured Western Cape-based farmers have been caught in an ongoing legal battle over land.

Johannes Bezuidenhout, Herold Bezuidenhout and Jan Bergh are sheep farmers operating under the Nuveld Farming Empowerment Enterprise.

According to Van Schalkwyk, the three grew up on farms in the Beaufort West area, as their parents worked on them, and applied for land redistribution in 2007.

“They wanted access to these farms that their parents had worked on but that they could never own under the apartheid regime.”

- Cecile van Schalkwyk, Attorney at the Legal Resources Centre

“These three have really showed how successful this can be.”

- Cecile van Schalkwyk, Attorney at the Legal Resources Centre

They have accused the government of destroying their business by refusing to grant them a lease agreement that would guarantee their security of tenure on their farm.

Their business was reportedly thriving before they were forced to go to court to secure their land rights.

In 2020 they applied for a 30-year-lease, but this was not awarded, and that decision is under review.

While this litigation was pending, the Department of Agriculture placed two other farmers on their land.

The Legal Resources Centre urgently approached the court, which ruled in their favour and immediately returned the land to the original farmers.