Important South African bank under siege

The Land and Agricultural Development Bank of South Africa (Land Bank) is accused of engaging in controversial debt collection practices.

The Land Bank is a specialist agricultural bank established in 1912 to serve South Africa’s commercial and emerging farmers.

It provides financial services to farmers to help them finance land and equipment, improve their assets, and obtain production credit.

“Land Bank’s vision is to be a world-class agricultural development bank that stimulates growth, drives solid performance and spurs innovation,” it states.

The institution serves both large commercial agribusiness clients and small- to medium-scale farmers.

The Land Bank has faced significant challenges in recent years, including a liquidity freeze and default on its debt obligations in 2020.

The bank, National Treasury, and lenders spent several years negotiating a comprehensive debt restructuring plan.

The bank has been actively working off high non-performing loan (NPL) levels, curing bad loans, and writing off unrecoverable debt.

It is also moving away from third-party service level agreement (SLA) models to manage its loan book directly.

Over the last five years, the Land Bank has reduced its overall loan book from R45 billion to R14.9 billion.

The bank’s non-performing loan value has decreased from the height of R12 billion in 2021 to R7.8 billion at the end of September 2025.

Despite this reduction, the non-performing loan ratio remains high due to the significant decrease in the performing portfolio.

This caused the Land Bank to breach its non-performing loan ratio. However, it said that it was taking steps to remedy the situation.

The Land Bank under fire over debt collection practices

The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) has accused the Land Bank of engaging in controversial debt-collection practices that are hurting farmers.

The party submitted a formal petition to the chairperson of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) and to the relevant select committees regarding the issue.

This submission was made on behalf of 150 commercial farmers and farming entities facing liquidation and the attachment of assets.

Kobus van den Berg, Freedom Front Plus MP and member of the Select Committee on Agriculture, Land Reform and Mineral Resources, submitted the petition.

The farmers contend that the Land Bank lacks the legal standing to attach their assets, as there are no direct loan agreements with them.

They added that they did not agree to pass the debt from cooperatives such as Suidwes Landbou, GWK, and Unigro to the bank. This makes it invalid or unenforceable.

“Many farmers are financially ruined by aggressive liquidations, undervalued farm sales, and the bank’s own errors, such as over-lending and delayed processes,” he said.

Van den Berg added that these actions threaten individual farmers and, with them, food security and the rural economy.

“The petition requests an urgent joint investigation, a moratorium on further attachments, and recommendations for improved oversight,” he said.

The full petition has been submitted to the Select Committee on Public Petitions and Executive Undertakings and to the Select Committee on Agriculture.