Land reform 'too slow'

2008-09-03 07:59

Max du Preez

There are two conspiracy theories doing the rounds right now regarding the government and the tricky land reform question.

The one is that the ANC is deliberately dragging its feet with land redistribution. The theory goes that thumping the land drum is always a good way of mobilising support among the majority voters in times of dissent.

The other theory is that the ANC never intended for the Land Expropriation Bill, now "temporarily" shelved, to become law. But it served as a sop to its own constituency demanding punitive steps against white landowners, while at the same time giving the ANC something to be gracious about and give up when big business pressured it.

There may well be truth in either or both theories. All I know is that the government's real land agenda is very murky. Keeping the land issue on the back burner until needed as a mobilisation issue certainly worked for Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe.

The reports that many of the fires that destroyed so much grazing the past week in the summer rainfall areas were started by people who are getting impatient with government's slow reaction to demands for land must make us all sit up and worry.

Lack of progress

What is not a theory but hard fact is that the lack of progress with land redistribution is not the fault of commercial farmers. The blame should but squarely at the door of a corrupt, inept and lazy bureaucracy and a lack of political will.

There are many, many examples of white farmers who are either desperate to sell their land to the state, or have been told that the state wanted to buy their land but nothing happened after that.

Many experts have shown that state-owned land, land seized by the Land Bank because of bankruptcy and land already put up for sale by struggling farmers are more than enough to satisfy the land hunger of the landless for years to come.

Instead the ANC has allowed the whole land issue to simmer, well knowing it is one of the most emotive questions in our country. Commercial farmers are jittery and paranoid; the landless are threatening land invasions; ordinary citizens are getting worked up because of the perceived injustice of it all.

But I also suspect that a part of the reason for the slow pace of land reform is a lack of political courage.

Unpopular things

For the process to be really successful, a few very unpopular things have to be stated in no uncertain terms. And the ANC and government will have to say those things.

Firstly, that ownership of agricultural land is not a natural right all South Africans, even all black South Africans, have. There are good arguments for older, more traditional folk to be given patches of land just to produce enough food for themselves, but South Africa cannot afford millions of hectares of productive agricultural land to be used for subsistence farming. We need all productive land to produce food, jobs and foreign currency.

Secondly, that South Africa cannot afford to drive successful farmers of their land. It will not only be unfair, it will breed instability, undermine the economy and create more unemployment.

Thirdly, that those emerging black farmers who get agricultural land, will eventually have to operate financially sound concerns. They need lots of help to start off with, but then they need to get on with it.

If we can organise a Soccer World Cup, surely we can run a successful land reform programme?

Send your comments to Max.

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Well said Max. With global food issues being what they are, we certainly can't afford to lose millions of productive hectares. May I add that as someone involved in agricultural research I find it very worrying that government is not doing enough to train emerging farmers.

Of course you are correct, Max. This is not brain surgery. It smacks of either a hidden agenda or the usual lack of the ANC government to actually be able to plan something and implement it (properly !).

You're 100% correct, instead of buying land from willing sellers and then setting up black farmers and actually helping them to be successful, government will continue to use the land issue as a political tool to garner support. Let's just hope it can be resolved before we have a situation like Zim.

Agree totally with you. Farming is not for the weak and idle. Dedication and endurance is what is required. It is usually a skill that is past down from one generation to the next and training for a few years in this field is essential.

I agree wholeheartedly with Max's comment. The current process has led to the majority of farmers not reinvesting capital into their farms. If you had a land claim on your farm woud you reinvest millions of Rands into increasing your agricultural production if you had no guarantee when or even if you were going to receive fair value? This adds to the looming food crisis and further stirs up emotions over an already "hot potato". The land reform principle is right,the process is desperately wrong.

Thanks Max, for bringing this to the attention of the broader population. It has long been a topic of concern amongst farmers, that there is no progress from government side. But all that we see in the press is more and more attacks from the Agricultural ministry on the "intransigent farmers". As you rightly point out, there is more than enough land available on a willing buyer, willing seller principle. The other unpopular thing the government will have to do, is to weed out the nonsense claims.

Is that the ANC is using the land issue to turn black and white people against each other,by telling those that want land,that the farmers are unwillingly to sell their land,by I suspect that the majority of the people are finally seeing the light,that the ANC is corrupt,racist,greedy and just interested in themselves and no one else.

There is a claim against the farm Schagen in Mpumalanga, by somebody claiming one of his ancestors was called Schagen!!! I was always under the impression that Schagen (and Alkmaar) was named after towns in the Netherlands.... Then there is also the community who could only be resettle on their "ancestral" land, but that land has been sold for R1 to the Mpumalanga Government. Or at least attempted to. It is necessary that nonsense like this be nipped in the bud.

Commercial farming ensures food security for the country instead of just isolated subsistance farmers who can only feed their family. Due to land reform South Africa became a net importer of food in 2007. We have been a net exporter of food for more than 40 years. In the light of the international food crises land reform is becoming more and more risky. The land must produce, and produce well to feed the people of this country.

I never thought I would agree with you on anything, but this piece of yours has my support. One can only hope that it is a simple case of ineptness that is causing the backlog because that can be addressed by appointing a new minister of agriculture, but I fear it may be much more sinister than that.

Excellent article, Max. South Africa - and the world - now needs food more than ever. But farming today is big business, requiring skill, capital and an intent to work hard and take the knocks of weather etc. Mugabe's handing over of well-run profitable farms to his cronies who then just grew a few mealies actually helped to totally destroy Zim's economy. Let the ANC take note.

Gee Max you are becoming a VERY good Investigative journalist! Thank you for bringing this issue to everybody's attention. It is however a pity that 'those in power' hardly pay attention to such sound and well thought out COMMON SENSE! Keep up the good work!

Good article, calling a spade a spade. So where is our good friends from the "previoulsy disadvantaged" background now? Would love to hear your views on this topic, since having that background gives you the automatic right to claim whatever you want to and have some sleazy corrupt department wasting thousands of hours & rand on investigating nonsense...

I work in this sector as a consultant and I can confirm that the lack of delivery is because the lack of ability (or lack of desire)on the part of public servants to do their job. Walk down the corridors of the DLA offices and you will see public servants eating, partying and doing anything but working - how can they deliver? How can a 25 year old Director or Chief Director with no experience in administration do the job? It takes 3 years for any transaction to be concluded. Why?

What will they do with the land???? Maybe cut down every tree, trample the grass, or chuck plastic bags, tins, glass everwhere. Then move enmasse onto neighbouring land to destroy that perhaps. At last Max, the dream you and Helen Suzman shared can come true.

Agreed Max, and my suspicions have been aroused for some time now re the ANC's "murky agenda" when it comes to land reform. It is of course political, they know they are failing the people and need a trump card a la Mugabe. Wait until there is no food and then see how impatient everyone gets, politics will take a back seat and so will politicians. The French Revolution will be a picnic in comparison, politicians beware a hungry nation!

Well said Max. My inlaws accepted the government's offer on their farm, only for the whole process to be dragged out for more than 2 years. They've now had enough and will sell the farm privately, which they can do as there was never a legit contract in place due to incompetence by the land reform officials. Willing seller, willing buyer - why is this so difficult? Another question is, where is Kolobe? (Probably incompetently researching counter arguments)

Pleasantly surprised. Knowing Max du Preez, I was expecting a logical argument with illogical conclusions. Gratified to find that he actually followed his argument through and made conclusions that actually follow from the premises. Nice article, Max! Keep them coming like this!

Why dont the goverment just look in the classified ads in the farmers weekly.There is hundreds of farms for sale.They are after all willing sellers.They can make an offer and buy the farm and then give it to emerging farmers.A deal like that shouldnt take longer than 6 months. Land Reform is just a political tool.

Lets not get carried away with all kind of conspiracy theories. The point is, there is a job to be done and its not happening. The reasons behind it should be irrelevant. The problem is though, that our government is replacing one incompetent person with another one, because there is no accountability. The result is that the ANC are slowly but surely lowering the standard on general service delivery.

More importantly is the fact that there is no support to these new farmers, go see what happened to the land in the Western Cape that has been given back? it?s a sad state of affairs, land distubution cannot work without ongoing financial support? government has no clue..

Well said Max, It's not about color for the ANC and who owns what, it's about getting votes and they will play the masses for votes. Same mentality as Zimbabwe, seeking only self interrest and gain, not that of the country as a whole.

Brilliant Max! I work as a GIS (mapping/spatial analysis) consultant. The Department of Land Affairs has one GIS employee and no data base to speak of. How on earth can they manage the process without knowing where or what they doing? As far as I know they look at aerial photographs from the 1930's etc to determine if the claim is warranted/unwarranted, how do you do this when you have one person employed to do the job?

If they settle all the claims they are unemployed - do the math. Your theories no doubt also have merit Max and I believe there is way more than a grain of truth in them too. ANC and honesty never made for good bed fellows though. I don't care who owns the land as long as I get food in the shops and I can buy some with security that I will not be arbitrarily dispossessed because someone decides he "has a right to it".

Do the "previously disadvantaged" really think that leaving Soweto & getting their hands on say 10 acres of barren land between Johannesburg & Vereeniging is really going to change their lives? Exchanging a matchbox house in Soweto for a shack with 6 mealie plants outside? Individuals have to work their way up the ladder in an advanced society & this applies to people of all colors. This is what they should be concentrating on, not dispossessing commercial farmers who produce the nation's foodw