White Farmers Are Not Land Thieves

White Farmers Are Not Land Thieves

As I was contemplating this opinion piece, I remembered the old adage; if you tell a lie several times, you may end up believing it. Moreover, some of your listeners may start to believe your lie. That’s exactly what happened in Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwean government and its governing party’s propaganda created an impression that white farmers owned most of the country’s farming land.

This was not true; Zimbabwean white farmers only owned about 20 percent of the land. The Zimbabwean government portrayed white farmers as the author of poverty among blacks. Again, this was not true because there were actually thriving black farmers in Zimbabwe, but their participation in farming was disrupted when the land grabs destroyed the value chain and agri-business. The government sponsored land grabs in Zimbabwe exacerbated poverty in that country.

There are lots of disturbing similarities between Zimbabwe and South Africa (SA). The South African public policy in agriculture and land affairs was meant to empower black people and to eradicate poverty. However, since the African National Congress’ (ANC) government introduced the minimum wage regime in the farming sector, more than one million jobs have been lost and the biggest losers are black farm workers.

Where Zimbabwe once had a thriving agricultural sector, it has now been all but destroyed. This is also happening in SA – thanks to ill conceived public policy this country has now become a net importer of food and things are getting worse. While the Zanu PF government in Zimbabwe discouraged investors through its indigenisation policy (black empowerment), the South African government is contemplating a 50/50 redistribution land plan.

I don’t foresee the unconstitutional 50/50 redistribution land plan being implemented, but it has already created huge damage by discouraging foreign direct investments…

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South Africa Today – South Africa News