September 16, 2004

By Samantha eslin

Durban - Inkezo Land Company, a brainchild of the sugar industry, will facilitate the transfer of sugar cane land to black farmers and can be used by other industries to achieve the government's target of transferring 30 percent of agricultural land be into black hands in the next 10 years.

Bruce Galloway, the vice-chairman, said at its launch last week that Inkezo's focus could broaden and organisations from other sectors could use it to transfer land.

The word "inkezo" denotes a tool carved from a calabash and used for transferring water or beer. Inkezo, a section 21 company, aims to transfer

78 000ha of land on a willing-buying-willing-seller basis by 2014.

Nomkhita Mona, the chief executive, said its objectives were to speed up the land reform process and ensure that proper support was available after transfer.

Inkezo will develop a database of willing buyers and sellers, lobby funding and monitor the effectiveness of mentor schemes.

The industry has allocated R7.4 million for the running of Inkezo over the next three years. It is not a funding body but will partner other players to raise finance.

Thoko Didiza, the agriculture and land affairs minister, said: "Instead of government running around looking for For Sale notices, it can speak to Inkezo and see what is in the kitty.

"But [it] can't work without a third party, namely finance."

The state had allocated R6 million for the first phase and was expected to increase this next year.

The financial sector, in terms of its empowerment charter, had set aside

R1.2 billion for agriculture. "The challenge is to access these resources,"

Didiza said.

Mona added: "A critical ingredient in the mix is, undoubtedly, the willing financier."

Areas of collaboration between Inkezo and financiers could include ways to deal with repossessed farms, rather than just reselling them, and exploring alternative finance mechanisms.

"Traditional loan and banking products are inadequate to meet the land reform challenge," Mona said. "New products and models need to be developed to assist farmers with limited resources."

The benefits "must translate into economic growth. To this end, Inkezo looks at other models of land reform, including lease-to-buy schemes, share cropping and many others."