The Democratic Alliance in Limpopo will write to the MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development, calling for the department to intervene in the leadership and governance of the Bathlabine Communal Property Association (CPA) by facilitating the election of a new CPA committee. This follows a stakeholder engagement meeting between concerned CPA members and the DA Constituency Head and caucus of the Greater Tzaneen Municipality, during which the failure of the CPA leadership to initiate fresh committee elections was raised.
This state of affairs is corroborated by government’s 2023/24 Communal Property Association Annual Report (CPA Report), which notes that the CPA had failed to submit its list of committee members as well as its annual financial statements.
The failure of the CPA leadership to comply with the association’s constitution and to initiate new elections effectively prevents the community from exercising its democratic right to choose new leadership. It has also resulted in tension, mistrust, and a lack of confidence in the association’s ability to govern the community’s property in a fair and transparent manner.
This restitution claim resulted in various productive farms in the renowned Letsitele Valley region being returned to the community. The CPA has some 876 beneficiaries.
When the then Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development handed over title deeds to the Bathlabine CPA, she was at pains to reiterate that the restitution of land was for the benefit of the community and not the CPA’s committee, and urged the community to make good use of the land.
Media reports dating back to 2016 record, however, conflict and infighting between the CPA and its beneficiaries in electing a new committee, and the negative effect that this had on the stability, operations and sustainability of the farms in question.
It is unacceptable that those in positions of power can entrench themselves in structures meant to benefit land restitution beneficiaries and previously disadvantaged communities. It is also vitally important that productive farmland remains productive, and that jobs are not lost.
The aforementioned CPA Report reaffirms that the vast majority of CPAs in Limpopo are non-compliant, are managed contrary to the provisions of their respective constitutions, lack democracy and accountability, and exhibit elements of inequality and discrimination.
The department must assist the Bathlabine CPA to hold a properly constituted Annual General Meeting and fresh elections, in accordance with the association’s constitution and applicable legislation.
As the DA, we will continue to monitor this matter through the Limpopo Agriculture and Rural Development Portfolio Committee to ensure that the CPA is governed in an accountable and responsible manner to the best benefit of its beneficiaries, that the farms remain productive, and that jobs are gained and not lost.