Land reform was vital, but not at the expense of property rights, politicians and farmers reacted on Friday in welcoming a landmark Constitutional Court finding that the state erred in failing to help a Benoni farmer evict thousands of squatters who invaded his land five years ago.

The judgment made it clear that government would find itself on the wrong side of the law whenever it neglected property rights in the process of land reform, said Democratic Alliance land affairs spokesman Kraai van Niekerk.

It further showed that it was only by maintaining the rule of law and upholding the willing-buyer, willing-seller principle that the government would secure political and economic stability and retain the international community's confidence.

Invasions occurred because of a lack of houses and open land for homeless South Africans, said Van Niekerk.

Placing the blame for the Benoni land invasion on government foot-dragging on reform, he said the Constitutional Court ruling should make the government aware that its delivery in these areas had been "seriously inadequate" and that it should urgently speed up the construction of low-cost housing and the purchase and redistribution of land.

The government could no longer evade its legal duty to protect the property of others as it had sought to do in the Benoni matter, said African Christian Democratic Party justice spokesman Steve Swart.

He said the judgment had affirmed the concept of compassionate justice, constitutional compensation and the rule of law.

"It is now clear that our courts will not tolerate land invasions and that the state has a responsibility to act in order to protect the property rights of land owners and to promote the right of access to land and housing by the landless," said Agri SA president Lourie Bosman.

Describing the ruling on the "sensitive" issue as balanced and well thought-out, he said it had renewed the organisation's confidence in the judicial system.

AgriSA remained committed to land reform and to supporting and co-operating with the government to ensure "a fair deal for everybody regarding the use of land", he said.

With acknowledgements to Carol Hills and Sapa.