A sheep farming outfit, founded by the sons of farmworkers who benefited from land redistribution, had to seek legal recourse after the government gave two of their farms to other beneficiaries.

The Western Cape High Court has ordered the restoration of two Beaufort West farms to the award-winning company of wool farmers, Nuveld Farming Empowerment Enterprises, following an incident where officials from the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform, and Rural Development cut their gate locks and handed the farms to new beneficiaries.

Joshua Bezuidenhout, a beneficiary of the land reform program and a farmer with Nuveld, expressed dismay, saying, "The land was unilaterally taken from us overnight."

Nuveld, established by Joshua, his brother Herold Bezuidenhout, and Jan Bergh over two decades, had been farming sheep since 2017, winning awards for the high quality of their wool, and fetched the highest average price in the Beaufort West region at national wool auctions.

Despite their success, the Nuveld farm has been struggling with the Land Reform Department for years, after the formal paperwork the farmers sent to the department to apply for tenure was never processed.

In 2009, the Department allocated five farms in the district, known as Plateau Farm, to over 80 beneficiaries as part of land reform. The Nuveld applicants, children of former farm workers, were among these initial beneficiaries.

On Monday, 4 March 2024, the Legal Resources Centre (LRC) represented three Beaufort West farmers at the Western Cape High Court. These farmers, beneficiaries of the state’s redistribution programme, obtained an order to urgently restore possession of lands they have farmed since 2017.

They also secured an interdict against the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, preventing the Department from allocating any portions of the farm to others, pending a review of the decision not to award them a 30-year lease.

Despite applying and being recommended for a 30-year lease in 2019, the Department refused to award it in 2020 without explanation. In 2023, officials unlawfully allocated portions of Plateau Farm to other beneficiaries, leading to the court restoring the farmers' possession. The court found that the Department ignored its own policies and procedures in the land allocation.

The Department opposed the farmers' application, as did the individuals placed on the farms by the Department.

After they began to achieve success, the department claimed they had not filed, and has seized their farm and livestock without any due process.

Judge Gayaat Salie's ruling highlighted that the Department and its newly selected beneficiaries did not follow the necessary processes to acquire the farms, stating, "The taking of the property by the department was without any legal process and court order."

Nuveld's operations have been praised for their success, with their wool However, the department's decision to deny them a 30-year lease has led to ongoing legal battles.

The government's legal team argued against the urgency of the farmers' application, claiming that the new beneficiaries had been unfairly removed from the farm. Salie expressed skepticism, noting that the farmers had held possession of the land and that the government's arguments were dubious and unsubstantiated.

Joshua Bezuidenhout denounced the allegations made by the new beneficiaries, stating, "Their inclusion in the redistribution project at Plateau Farm in 2009 was their second bite at the redistribution cherry." He also highlighted that the new beneficiaries had not applied for the 30-year lease and had tried to take possession of the farm without proper authorization.

This mistreatment of land reform beneficiaries is a common occurrence, and highlights the fraudulent tendencies of the land reform program, which deprives citizens of their property rights.

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