In South Africa, conflict is brewing over the issue of land ownership among hundreds of thousands of black squatters who have occupied farmland for decades, but who still have no right of ownership to the small plots that have been their homes.

Greg Barrow reports on the consternation in the white community at a farmer's bold action

In a bold move, one white land owner on a farm at Hatebeesport, north of Pretoria has attempted to hand the title of some of his land to a group of black squatter families, but the nearby property owners and the local council are blocking his attempts to give up some of his land.

The earliest white Afrikaaner settlers in what was the northern frontier territory of South Africa took over fertile virgin farmland and dispossessed the native populations. The family of Margaret Soko has lived as squatters in the area for generations, and now she wants her land back:

"This land is our land. We were born here. There is nowhere we can go. My granny died on this property. Look now how big I am, and my children also. They've been getting big on this property, we've gone many, many years on this property, getting big here, growing here."

Some of the squatters families have been on the land for generations

Margaret and nine other black families all live on land now owned by Roger Roman, a benevolent farmer who wants to hand title deeds to the squatters. He believes that landowners must take the initiative in donating property to the rural poor:

"If the landless and the landowners sit back and expect the government to deliver on land transfer and on homes and housing, then we're doomed to failure because government, local, provincial or national, doesn't have the resources and it cannot do it on its own."

But Mr Roman's attempts to give land to the squatters living on his property have provoked outrage in the local community.

John Morris, a former British bank manager, and Christian preacher, is among those objecting to Roger Roman's plans to hand land over to the squatters. Among other things, Mr Morris has been having difficulty selling his property so that he can return to England:

"We have a number of agents of course, and whenever the agents turned up, they walked inside my gate, looked across there and said, Oh my God, what has happened here?