The Democratic Alliance (DA) will take legal action against the government over transfer of land to emerging farmers, leader Mmusi Maimane said on Monday.

“We are going to fight the [African National Congress] ANC government, take them to court to ensure that this land is transferred to the people, that the lies they are telling that all land was transferred are not true, we met farmers here today who are in the same programme who never own anything yet continue to pay rental every month… If we are serious about land reform we must ensure that South Africans who do not own the land must own it,” he said at Nooitgedacht farm near Northam, Limpopo.

He was in Northam to meet farmers who were beneficiaries of government’s Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development (LRAD) programme, designed to help previously disadvantaged citizens to buy land or agricultural implements specifically for agricultural purposes.

The farmers told Maimane that despite promises from government that the land would be transferred to them, they do not own the land they farm, people invaded the farms and unlawfully and erected shacks, because they claimed it was government land and did not belonging to the farmers.

They want the government to transferred land to them.

David Rakgase, said he had been farming at the Nooitgedacht farm about 8km from Northam, during the Bophuthatswana era and the land was transferred to Limpopo provincial government after the 1994 election.

He leased the farm from the government since April 1991, and has never defaulted on his rental payments. He has run a successful farm, he also ran a mentorship programme assisting young emerging farmers with training and development.

He was asked whether he would like to exercise his option to purchase the farm as an LRAD beneficiary in 2002. He accepted and confirmed his intention to purchase — which government approved.

Later, he received a letter from the Limpopo provincial government confirming that he was in fact the new owner.

In 2011, he was made to sign a new five-year lease agreement with the department of rural development and land reform, despite government confirming eight years earlier that they were in the process of transferring the land and title into his full ownership.

Maimane said they were taking a class action against the government.

“Our legal team has written to the State Attorney’s Office asking for an explanation as to why the land has not been transferred to Mr Rakgase, and to provide us a date by which this will be done. We believe Mr Rakgase has a sound case, and has been unfairly deprived of the land that is contractually his. We will not hesitate to litigate on his behalf if the state will not honour their agreement.”

Maimane said they believed that qualifying black farmers must have an ownership stake in the land they farm.