The organisation’s Parliamentary representative Annelize Crosby says this has never been part of the discourse. She says in the past, government has repeatedly reassured the sector and investors that this was not part of government policy.

Crosby describes the statements as not only irresponsible, but also unfeasible.

“We really didn’t expect this and we are very worried by the statements.

“We think they are totally irresponsible. We think they are probably not doable and certainly not conducive to growing the sector and getting investors interested and securing food security for this country.”

Nkwinti said during the debate on the State of the Nation Address that a single law should be developed to address the issue of land restitution without compensation. Crosby says this would be very difficult to execute as it would require Constitutional amendments.

“We all know the ANC does not have the two-thirds majority at this point in time, so that would be the first thing that would be required.

“There would be a lot of resistance to that and I think it would send out very negative signals for our economy as a whole if Government were to embark on that.”

He also called for an audit of pre-colonial land ownership. Crosby questions the feasibility of something like that, particularly as she says government hasn’t yet been able to do a proper audit of existing land ownership patterns.

- OFM News