2.5 million hectares of state land for black farmers, announced 23 days before the vote

2.5 million hectares.

That is the amount of state-owned land President Cyril Ramaphosa says the government is releasing to black farmers, with title deeds. He said it in his weekly letter to the nation on 12 October 2026, and posted it on X. South Africans vote in local elections on 4 November. That is 23 days later.

The replies were quick. "ELECTIONEERING!" wrote one. Another asked for the list of friends and family getting farms. A third asked the question many people had: "How to apply?"

What exactly did Ramaphosa announce?

He said the state is releasing "approximately 2,5 million hectares" under the Proactive Land Acquisition Strategy, known as PLAS. Under PLAS, the state buys farms and leases them to farmers. The leases run for 30 years and can be renewed for 20 more.

The new part is the paper. Farmers on these leases have been tenants. Now they are to get title deeds, which means ownership. He said the first step in building a new generation of farmers is giving them titled access to land.

He also said land alone is not enough. Many emerging farmers stay at subsistence level because banks will not lend to them. He pointed to Redlands, a dairy farm in Stutterheim in the Eastern Cape, run by young black farmers with help from the Land Bank's Blended Finance Scheme. That scheme mixes government grants with loans.

The letter also gave a reason. Black farmers produce only about 10% of commercial output, which he called "two agricultures."

How big is 2.5 million hectares?

It is about 25,000 square kilometres. That is a little smaller than Belgium.

It is also more than the 2.3 million hectares that Business Report said the state had bought through PLAS between 1997 and 2023. Across all land reform programmes in that period, the state acquired 5.2 million hectares. So the number is huge. The letter does not say how much of it is already leased and how much is empty.

What has been promised before? A table of every land promise

This is not the first time. Here is the record, with dates.

Sources: Presidency, SAnews, Business Report, DA. The 2020 lease plan covered 896 farms.

Look at the jump. In 2020, 275 farmers got land. In May 2026, 20 farmers got deeds in one ceremony. Now the figure is millions of hectares.

Photo: Ruby D-Brown / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

Who qualifies, and can foreigners apply?

The letter says "black farmers." The reports we found give no other rules. That left room for the worry in the replies. One person pointed out it does not say "black South African farmers."

We could not find a citizenship rule in the announcement, so we cannot say either way. What we do know is who decides. The Department of Land Reform and Rural Development picks beneficiaries. The Daily Friend, a free-market news site, describes a selection process with panels, an application register and an online system.

As for how to apply, no application date or portal has been announced. That is the most asked question in the replies.

Is this just electioneering?

That is what critics say. The date is the heart of their case. Local elections are on 4 November, and our local elections guide shows how close the vote is.

Critics also raise a second point. People under the post asked whether the land would go to ANC-connected people. One asked for a published list of beneficiaries. Others said it took 30 years to hand over state land.

There is some history behind the worry. The Daily Friend cites a 2019 presidential advisory panel that found selection of land reform beneficiaries lacked transparency and favoured business people and the politically connected. A study of 62 leased farms found selection favoured the well-off. The same piece says 83% of agricultural restitution projects underperformed. These are claims from a think-tank piece, but they point to a pattern the government has been challenged on before. Our look at where ANC money went shows why trust is low.

The Presidency's side is simple. Ramaphosa had already started handing over deeds in May, months before the campaign peaked. The DA itself asked for this in 2024, saying short leases stop farmers getting bank loans.

What about the Expropriation Act?

Several replies asked why the state needs the Expropriation Act if it has millions of hectares already.

The Act became law in January 2025. It lets the state take land in the public interest. In some cases it allows nil compensation, which means paying nothing. AfriForum, the DA and the Institute of Race Relations are challenging it in the Western Cape High Court. The case was heard in August 2026. We found no judgment yet. AfriForum has narrowed its case to a few sections, mainly 12(3), the nil compensation clause.

The two issues are different. The Act is about land the state does not own yet. The 2.5 million hectares is land it already holds.

Photo: LBM1948 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Do the deeds come with strings?

Yes. According to the Daily Friend, which cites an April 2026 reply in Parliament, the deeds carry a ten-year ban on selling. After that, the department would get the first right to buy the land back.

The author says that makes the deeds a "lease camouflaged" as ownership. A bank may not accept land it cannot sell as security. The department has not answered that point in anything we found.

There is also a money question. Agriculture Minister Willie Aucamp says no dedicated funding has been allocated yet for Ramaphosa's pledge to appoint 10,000 extension officers, the advisers who help new farmers.

Could selling the land pay off South Africa's debt?

Many replies said yes. One said interest on the debt costs R1.2 billion a day. That part checks out. The 2026 Budget Review puts debt-service costs at R432.4 billion for 2026/27. That works out at about R1.2 billion a day.

The land sums are harder. Gross debt is around R6 trillion. Divide that by 2.5 million hectares and each hectare would have to sell for about R2.4 million to clear it. That is the price the idea needs. It also ignores that the state would then own no land to give anyone. Still, the comparison shows why the thread got so hot.

Photo: BeanieAll / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

What should you watch next?

Three things.

First, an application process. Until the department publishes where to apply, who qualifies and a list of farms, the promise has no door to knock on.

Second, the first deeds. In May, 20 farmers walked away from a ceremony as owners. If a similar handover happens before 4 November, expect a loud argument about timing. If none happens, expect an argument about the announcement.

Third, the court ruling on the Expropriation Act, which could land at any time.

For now there is a number, 2.5 million, and a date, 4 November. Somewhere on a leased farm, a farmer is waiting to see which one arrives first with a name on it.