Where 2016 was the year in which racism was the main point on the political agenda, it seems that 2017 will be the year in which land redistribution will be the topic of conversation in the political corridors. Even the “fees must fall” campaign changed their tune to: “No education without land.”
In light of the fact that 90% of agricultural land in South Africa still belongs to only about 8% of the population, an objective observer would admit that a problem might exist and that people might in fact have an argument in saying that the question should be addressed immediately. The big question is, however: What do you want to do with land if you don’t know what to do with it?
In 1994, when the ANC came to power, it promised their supporters that 30% of land in this country would be re-distributed by 2014. It turned into a massive fiasco where, after 22 years of ANC rule, only 2% of land was re-distributed. The process of land claims was a failure. Many cases drag on and on in court at a massive cost and eventually run into a dead end because there is simply not enough evidence for the claim to be settled. Consequently, in 2016, president Zuma announced a 5 year moratorium on all land claims.
Undoubtedly the fact that Front National South Africa cashed in on the structure of land claims played a part. The ANC never thought that white people might decide to claim land as well. Front National’s claim on the land of the former Ohrigstad Republic in the Eastern Transvaal, Stellaland in the Western Transvaal, Skipskop on the Western Cape Coast and various other pieces of land in Natal and the Free State came as a huge surprise.
For the observer who takes the time to argue the matter, it is fairly obvious that there is more to the question. The ANC is losing support by not delivering on their promise. They need to make another plan. Over the last few days a certain group of ANC supporters became more militant about the matter arguing that land should simply be taken and that settlement can be negotiated later. This, despite the fact that the same policy in Zimbabwe caused an economic crisis of epic proportions! Yet, the contentious Property Expropriation Bill is being rushed through Parliament as we speak. And this is nothing less than legalised theft of property.
Back to the question: What do you want to do with land if you don’t know what to do with it?
Fact is: Research in 2016 reached the conclusion that more than 90% of redistributed farms failed. Which confirms the argument that the process does not work. Eventually one can come to only one conclusion: The question is not about land. It is all about money.
The influential Daily Mail in the UK published an article early this morning quoting the Minister of Land Reform, Gugele Nkwinti, as admitting that about 30% of the land which has been bought by government from white farmers and given to black farmers, has already been sold back to the original owners by the new owners!
This, in short, means that both the black farmer and the white farmers turns a profit from government’s involvement in the process. Personally, if I was a white farmer whose land has been purchased by government (co-incidentally in a majority of cases at quite a notch above the real market value) I would think twice before buying it back from the black farmer who received it from government. His cousin or uncle will just come back in a few days and claim it again, while political parties such as the ANC or the EFF pulls out statistics about land ownership and shout: “Nothing is being settled, white people still own all the land!”
There is no solution, therefore, no resolution to the question and an ever escalating discomfort, conflict and incitement to violence and bloodshed because of the land issue. The only possible solution that I can think of, is for government to sit down with white people, and other minorities, and discuss a fair and equal re-distribution of land aiming at creating a structure of self-determination for all groups in the country. That means that nobody claims ownership of anybody else’s property outside of the area of self-government to which the group he belongs to, is entitled.
Read the original article by Daniel Lötter on Front Nasionaal SA – blad
South Africa Today – South Africa News
