South Africa’s lands ministry reached a settlement with a white farmer this week who became the first to face expropriation under the government’s land reform programme. The government pushed ahead to ensure that 30% of farmland is owned by blacks by 2015. Livestock farmer Hannes Visser, based in North West province, was the first farmer in South Africa to be served with an official expropriation notice in October 2005 after nearly 3 years of negotiations on compensation with the government deadlocked. An agreement was reached now after the state increased its initial offer of R1,75 million to R2,0 million for the 500-hectare cattle and crop farm. Blacks, many of whom were dispossessed under apartheid, currently own only four percent of farmland. Visser’s farm originally belonged to Abraham Molamu, whose descendants sought restitution after the end of apartheid. Visser’s father bought the land in 1968, and his son took over the farm 11 years ago. The Commission on Restitution of Land Rights for Gauteng and North West plans to issue 2 new expropriation notices for farms.