The ANC government in Northern Province is planning to seize farmland throughout the province to erect schools on farms where farmers have failed to provide adequate education facilities.
The provincial government insists that the South African Schools Act of 1996 provides for the expropriation of farm land for education.
The plan, which is vigorously opposed by the Transvaal Agricultural Union but supported by black farmers' unions and some Cosatu-aligned trade unions, could change the face of education in Northern Province, where pupils face a chronic shortage of accessible schools and facilities.
The man behind the dramatic plan is the MEC for education in Northern Province, Edgar Mushwana.
Mushwana told The Sunday Independent this week that only two farmers out of hundreds in Northern Province had given permission for the government to build schools on their property.
"Yet when we engage the leadership of the farmers about this worrying state of affairs they tell us that we'll be seeing progress soon. It is now over five years that we have been waiting for that progress."
He said "protracted disagreements are forcing us to invoke certain pieces of legislation to ensure that quality public education is defended without compromise."
He also deplored the living conditions of farmworkers.
"They earn little more than the monthly social pensions grant for pensioners," he said.
Asked when he envisaged invoking the legislation, Mushwana said: "The wheel is already rolling. We are looking at the worst problem areas where we can immediately go and erect schools. The budget is there. The private sector wants to help. The need is very urgent."
Two teacher trade union organisations have already thrown their weight behind Mushwana's plan.
The South African Democratic Teachers Union has said in its response to Mushwana's initiative: "That is the only way to go."
Sadtu's rival organisation, the Professional Educators Union, has also voiced similar sentiments, saying: "The move is long overdue."
The legal adviser of the provincial education department, advocate Rapule Theledi, said Mushwana was within his legal rights to expropriate land. He cited the relevant legislation as the South African Schools Act number 84 of 1996.
He said complainants had recourse to the courts or could appoint an arbitrator.
Another scenario allows the MEC to put a notice in a provincial gazette and give up to 30 days for written submissions, which he may go against if he deems fit.
But Jack Loggenberg, a labour and land affairs spokesperson for the Transvaal Agricultural Union, sounded a warning for Mushwana.
"If Mushwana talks about taking land by force then that's sad. We won't allow that to happen. If he goes the route of appropriation at least he is leaving room for us to go to court and challenge him.
"But this is exactly why we prefer to work with the national office of Kader Asmal, and not these provincial guys. We have been trying to help Mushwana, but he doesn't listen," Loggenberg said.
Ninety percent of the Northern Province is rural and poor. Even outside of the farms, many children, from Grade 1 to Grade 12, attend classes under trees. The failure rate for matric pupils has also been unacceptably high.
The president of the Northern Province African Farmers Union, Joe Gondo, said his organisation fully supported Mushwana.
"The plight of black children in the farms must be made priority number one throughout the whole country. In our view the only stumbling block to a better life for farm children are white farmers.
Sadtu's provincial secretary, Morebudi Thamaga, said: "The situation in the farms calls for a very decisive leader. We welcome the MEC's bold moves. We at Sadtu believe that to appropriate land is the only route to go."
Peu's provincial chairperson, Bashadu Manyaga, said: "If the land is going to be seized solely for the purposes of building schools for our children, we are fully behind Mushwana.
"No South African child must be disadvantaged on matters educational. In fact, Mushwana's intentions are belated, particularly if you bear in mind that the Act that gives him the power to expropriate the land has been law since 1996."