The farms handed over to the Richtersveld community following its historic land claim victory are being run into the ground and animals are dying "in huge numbers", according to papers filed in the Northern Cape High Court this week.

The papers are part of an application by consultants the Pan African Agricultural Business Development Institute (PAABDI), to have the farms put under judicial management.

In an affidavit, PAABDI staffer and former manager of the farms Jolande Pretorius said she believed the farms were being run down "so that valuable assets may be snapped up for a song by interested parties, and possibly so that diamonds may be mined from the soil on the farms".

"The situation of these farms has worsened drastically since I left in November 2009, and is extremely critical," she said.

'Total wastelands'

"The animals are dying in huge numbers, and urgent attention is needed to prevent that all the animals die out and the farms become total wastelands."

The farms, along with an 84 000 hectare coastal strip of diamond-bearing land, were handed over to the community as part of a settlement reached with the state in 2007.

The farms, on the southern bank of the Gariep River, formerly belonged to state-owned diamond mining company Alexkor.

There is also an oyster farm inside the restricted mining area to the south of mining town Alexander Bay.

The farms include a dairy and a dairy products processing facility, an abattoir, irrigated lands, orchards, a "fully equipped ostrich facility", staff villages, a school, community halls and a holiday resort .

Protecting assets

Pretorius said in her affidavit that judicial management was necessary "to protect the assets that have been awarded to the Richtersveld Community".

She said community leader Willem Diergaardt and other Richtersveld residents had been irregularly appointed as directors of the community's Richtersveld Agricultural Holding Company, which runs the farms.

When she arrived to take up an appointment as manager of the farms in September last year, the farms and the animals in particular were in "a terribly neglected state".

"The animals were starving, and many of them were on the brink of death," she said.

"I was informed then that many of the animals have already died [sic] before I came."

Poor hygiene

Bacteria counts in the dairy's milk had soared due to poor hygiene, and 55 ostriches had died.

The people running the farms, including a nephew of Diergaardt's, had very little knowledge "and in some case[s] no knowledge" of agriculture.

In October 2009, the chairman of a committee overseeing the farms, Henry Wiggins, had declared that the farms were technically bankrupt.

This was despite a sum of R50-million supposed to have been available for the project.

Claims for fees

Pretorius said the company owed PAABDI R45 000 for three months consulting fees.

She said there was a "reasonable probability" that the company would recover if it was placed under judicial management.

The application came before Northern Cape High Court Judge Hennie Lacock in Kimberley on Friday, who postponed it to May 28.

On that day, the judge agreed, PAABDI would seek an interim order interdicting the company from disposing of any assets.

Also on the 28th, a date would be arranged for the matter to be placed on the urgent opposed roll.

ON THE HORIZON:

May 24: Stats SA releases April liquidations and insolvencies.
May 24: Pioneer Food group releases interim results (approx date).
May 24: Vukile releases annual results.
May 24: Simmer & Jack holds AGM.
May 24: ABIL releases interim results.
May 24: National Empowerment Fund BB-BEE seminar.
May 25: Weekly government bond auction.
May 25: Stats SA releases Q1 2010 GDP.
May 26: Rio Tinto holds AGM.
May 26: Freeworld Coatings releases interim results.
May 26: Trematon releases annual results.
May 26: Medi-Clinic releases annual results.
May 27: Stats SA releases April CPI.
May 27: Foschini releases annual results.
May 27: Mercantile Bank holds AGM.
May 27: Richemont releases annual results.
May 28: Stats SA releases April PPI.
May 28: Weekly treasury bill auction.
May 28: Tongaat Hulett releases 15-month results.

FURTHER AHEAD:

May 31: Customs & Excise releases April trade data.
May 31: SARB releases April M3 and PSCE data.
May 31: Treasury releases statement of national revenue, expenditure and borrowing for April.
May 31: Cadiz Holdings releases annual results.
May 31: Protech Khutele releases annual results.
May 31: Huge Group releases annual results.
May 31: Seardel releases annual results.
May 31: African Brick releases final results.
June 1: Weekly government bond auction.
June 1: Standard bank releases May residential property gauge.
June 1: Kagiso releases May PMI.
June 1: Wildneress Safaris releases annual results.
June 2: NAAMSA releases May new vehicle sales.
June 2: Treasury releases May provisional financing figures.
June 2: Santam holds AGM.
June 2: Winhold releases interim results.
June 3: Stats SA releases April electricity stats.
June 3: BJM releases annual results.
June 4: Weekly treasury bill auction.
June 7: SARB releases May gold and forex reserves.
June 7: Gold Reef Resorts holds AGM.
June 8: Weekly government bond auction.
June 8: RMB/BER release Q2 BCI.
June 9: Omnia releases annual results.
June 10: Stats SA releases April manufacturing production data.
June 10: Stats SA releases April mining production data.
June 10: Transnet release annual results.
June 11: Weekly treasury bill auction.
June 14: FNB/BER release Q2 CCI.
June 15: Weekly government bond auction.
June 15: Stats SA releases April Building stats.
June 16: Markets closed for Youth Day holiday.
June 17: Stats SA releases April retails sales data.
June 17: Stats SA releases April civil cases for debt stats.
June 17: Simmer & Jack Mines releases Q4 results.
June 18: Weekly treasury bill auction.
June 22: Weekly government bond auction.
June 22: Telkom releases annual results.
June 22: Stats SA releases Q1 quarterly employment stats.
June 22: BER releases Q2 inflation expectations survey.
June 23: Stats SA releases May CPI.
June 24: Stats SA releases May PPI.
June 24: SARB releases Q1 quarterly bulletin.
June 24: Crop Estimates Committee releases Summer: fifth production forecast.
June 25: Weekly treasury bill auction.
June 28: Stats SA releases May liquidations and insolvencies.
June 29: Weekly government bond auction.
June 29: Naspers releases annual results.
June 30: SARB releases May M3 and PSCE data.
June 30: Customs & Excise releases May trade data.
June 30: Treasury releases May statement of revenue, expenditure and borrowing.