GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - The community of Haarlem has received the title deed to a very profitable piece of land. The long-awaited title deed was transferred for Portion 4 and 8 of Farm Welgelegen No 230, commonly known as Farm Anhalt.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Mcebisi Skwatsha, handed over the title deed on 15 February in Haarlem.
Vuyani Nkasayi, deputy director of communication support services at the department, said that during apartheid the land was held in trust by the then Minister of Coloured Affairs for the benefit of the community of Haarlem.
In the new dispensation the land was held in trust by the Minister of Land Affairs, currently the Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, on condition that the land needs to be transferred to the community in terms of the Transformation of Certain Rural Areas Act No 94 of 1998.
This land has now been transferred to the community of Haarlem, who had organised themselves into a Community Property Association (CPA).
Nkasayi said Farm Anhalt has various benefits for the community:
- It provides employment for 18 permanent workers and 150 seasonal workers (all living in Haarlem);
- A portion of the profits is used to fund social upliftment projects in the community (subject to strict and fair donation rules); and
- The harvest is of high quality, primarily exported, contributing to the GDP.
According to him it is the first time that land is transferred in terms of this specific act in the Haarlem community.
He added there are other land reform footprints in the area where various farms had been transferred or bought to the benefit of the small farmers. Further initiatives of the department include the building of a mechanisation centre for the small farmers of Haarlem.
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