A DA MP has accused a Mpumalanga state agency of letting one of the province’s best citrus export farms face a housing development.
Desiree Van der Walt raised the case in Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Agriculture on Tuesday, 13 October. She pointed to the Mpumalanga Economic Growth Agency (MEGA).
“MEGA, for example, has got a farm of 845 hectares, one of the best lemon export farms established. I did oversight there, so I know what it looks like,” she said.
Van der Walt said a man who was meant to get land on the farm now risks losing it.
“There’s a struggle now with the man who’s paid off that farm, who’s supposed to get four hectares for himself, and is now facing being thrown off agricultural land,” she said.
She said the matter had gone to court. “MEGA is in a court case. I’m not sure if that court case is finished,” she said.
Van der Walt said MPs fight to keep farmland for farming while developers move in.
“Whilst we are fighting in this country to get agricultural land to remain agriculture, developers come around and build mass houses, and there goes food security,” she said.
Van der Walt questioned whether new national laws would make any difference.
“I just don’t know how whatever legislation we do is going to prevent this example. It seems like national legislation doesn’t have any value to provinces, and there are many examples,” she said.
She called for provincial officials to be summoned. “We should call the provinces on the specific topics to come in and explain,” she said.
Department of Agriculture deputy director-general Dipepeneneng Serage agreed that there are competing demands on farmland. He said the department can refuse to let high-value land be used for other purposes.
He did not respond to the MEGA case directly.
MEGA’s own plans for one of its citrus farms are already under scrutiny. Its first-quarter report for 2026/27 says it has agreed in principle to a proposed smart city development on the Tekwane citrus farm near Mbombela, though several issues remain unresolved.
According to the report, a development partner appointed by MEGA has proposed a shopping centre on vacant parts of the farm that are not needed for farming.
The Tekwane farm has 118 hectares under cultivation and more than 40,000 citrus trees.
The farmers’ organisation TLU has warned that turning farmland into shopping centres and mines could hurt food production.
The new Preservation and Development of Agricultural Land Act is meant to stop high-value farmland being used for anything other than farming. It is not yet in force.