South Africa remains confident it will sign a pact with Zimbabwe to protect the property of its citizens in that country, after an earlier agreement was put off, a top official said on Thursday. "We believe it is going to be signed ... we are working towards a new date," South African Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa told Reuters. Several South African farmers have already lost land under Zimbabwe's land reform policy of confiscating white-owned commercial farms for distribution to landless blacks. No exact figures are available, but a number of other farms have been earmarked for expropriation. Pretoria has tried to negotiate a pact -- first mooted three years ago -- with Harare to protect them but the signing of a deal was delayed for a third time earlier this month. "We are working on getting a new date following the failure to sign the last time around, we have also discussed it with our minister of foreign affairs to just indicate to our minister some of the concerns," Mpahlwa said. He was speaking after signing a similar agreement with Angola in Cape Town. Officials say the Zimbabwe pact would allow South African property owners to take legal action if their property is seized. They would also be allowed to refer any investment related dispute to international arbitration. --SP 1841 Local Time 1541 GMT
