Dundee - South Africa is making progress redistributing land to blacks and still hopes to achieve its target of putting 30% of commercial farmland in black hands by 2014, a senior official said.

South Africa's drive to reverse skewed property ownership created under decades of white colonial and apartheid rule is being closely watched by analysts, with fears of unrest fanned by the chaotic land reform programme in neighbouring Zimbabwe.

Critics say South Africa's programme is moving far too slowly, pointing out that more than 10 years after the end of apartheid only 4% of commercial farmland is black-owned.

But Dirk du Toit, deputy minister of agriculture and land affairs, said the goal was still attainable, pointing to a number of recent agreements with white farmers that saw them sell their land to blacks.

"That's not an unrealistic target. It can be attained if there is this kind of cooperation ... and it will happen," he told Reuters in an interview.

Expropriation

Land activists have accused white farmers of thwarting reforms and urged officials to abandon a market-driven programme and seize white-owned farms - or face invasions similar to those blamed for gutting Zimbabwe's commercial farming sector.

Some white farmers have objected to the prices being offered for their farms, forcing prolonged negotiations.

Du Toit, whose office oversees the talks, said a number of recent sales agreements showed farmers wanted to help the government achieve its goals.

"I think the ultimate truth is: everyone in agriculture realises if this doesn't happen in a co-operative fashion it can become nasty and no one wants that ... I think there's no future for land invasions in South Africa," he told Reuters during a tour of land reform projects in KwaZulu-Natal province.



Zimbabwe's land redistribution programme saw most white commercial farmers forced off their land and has been blamed for helping to knock the country's economy - once one of Africa's most promising - to its knees.

South Africa has insisted it will follow an orderly, law-based process and only consider expropriations if farmers refuse to sell their land at market prices.

While the government recently warned it was ready to start the expropriation process on a number of farms, none has yet been seized and some farmers say they are getting ready to sell.

Roland Henderson was one of a group of farmers in the region whose farm was claimed via a law that allows workers who have lived on farms for more than five years since 1990 to apply for a piece of the land.

"I can state almost categorically - the myth of farmers being opposed to land redistribution ... is exactly that. It's a myth," he told reporters and officials at a briefing in Ladysmith, a cattle farming district outside Dundee.

"Farmers are pragmatic people. We know there's no magic wand that is going to take this away ... farmers need a process."

http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/Politics/0,,2-7-12_1958485,00.html