CPA amendment bill clarified

GEORGE NEWS - In an attempt to address disputes between communities and their elected Communal Property Associations (CPA) members, amendments to the CPA Act have been tabled in the CPA Amendments Bill.

Parliament's portfolio committee on Rural Development and Land Reform visited George on Monday 7 August to interact with local stakeholders on the amendments as proposed.

The bill seeks to amend the principal act, which was passed into law in 1996, to provide clarity on the function of communal property associations and to extend the application of the Act to certain labour tenants who acquired land in accordance with stipulations in the Act.

The portfolio committee is conducting nationwide public hearings to give South Africans an opportunity to contribute to the CPA Amendment Bill.

A proposed amendment in the bill deals with the sticky issue of the procurement and disposal of assets and distinguishes between immovable and movable property. In the case of immovable property, such property may only be sold, donated or encumbered with the written consent of the Minister and only if at least 60% of the members of the community approve the transaction.

John Saayman, one of the 58 members of the Hansmoeskraal Farm 202 CPA, supported the proposed amendments to the Act, and took the opportunity to enlighten the chairperson of the committee, Phumuzile Catherine Ngwenya-Mabila, of the problems their CPA has experienced. "The number of members who had to form a CPA were too many for the size of the land allocated.

Furthermore we were not given any farming implements by the government, just the land. We had to borrow implements and accumulated a R200 000 debt at the Land Bank so that we could work the land effectively," he said.

Members of Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Rural Development and Land Reform visited George on Monday 7 August to clarify amendments to the Communal Property Association Amendments Bill. From left: Mncedisi Filtane, Nosilivere Magadla, Chairperson Phumuzile Catherine Ngwenya-Mabila, Catherine Matsimli and Mamagase Nchabeleng. Absent: Andrew Madella.

Currently the farm is, with consent among the CPA members, leased to one of the members and his family so that they have enough land at their disposal to farm effectively without being pressured by fellow members for the right to use the section of land allocated to them.

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