Land reform not helping blacks

[Rudolph]

2010-05-27 23:03

Johannesburg - Black South Africans who received land under the country's land reform programme had not reaped the full benefits from the initiative partly due to poor management, President Jacob Zuma (http://www.whoswhosa.co.za/user/927) said on Thursday.

After the end of apartheid in 1994, the government set a target of handing over 30% of commercial farmland to the black majority by 2014 as part of a plan to correct racial imbalances in land distribution.

Zuma said in response to a question in parliament that the government recognised the land reform programmes implemented so far had not been "entirely sustainable."

"They have not provided the anticipated socio-economic benefits to all the recipients of the programmes," Zuma said.

"Among other things, this is the result of institutional weaknesses in overall land management, policy and legislation."

Zuma said as a result of the problems, the government was finalising a new policy on land reform and would also introduce a Land Tenure Bill to protect the rights of farm workers, farm dwellers and landowners.

He acknowledged last month that the "willing-buyer, willing-seller" model for transferring land was not working and that new methods to speed up the process of giving land to the black majority were needed.

The country's largest farmers group has said it favours land reforms that give an equity stake to farm-hands and warned that plans to force commercial farmers to give up farms will seriously harm investment in agriculture.

The government has failed to meet the 2014 target of transferring commercial farmland to black farmers due to lack of funds to purchase land and so far only about 6% of agricultural land had been shifted to blacks.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Land-reform-not-helping-blacks-20100527


The ANC has by now come out and said that the majority of black owned farms are a failure many times, then why do they want to speed up the distribution process? They're being honest about the failures, so I'm assuming some of them want things to change, so why not start with some agricultural education courses for their tentative farmers?

[Roaming East]

When has land reform EVER been successful? Especially when its a 'take from a previous owner and give to someone else' affair?

[sepheronx]

The ANC has by now come out and said that the majority of black owned farms are a failure many times, then why do they want to speed up the distribution process? They're being honest about the failures, so I'm assuming some of them want things to change, so why not start with some agricultural education courses for their tentative farmers?

because, regardless if it is working or not, the Black people do not want the whites there.

Point of the matter is, they are just being racist, not smart.

[jetsetter]

It is best to remember that neither the "whites" nor the "blacks" are the natives of the territory that now makes up the nation of South Africa. Both came from the outside and it was the "whites" (Dutch, English, etc) that established the large scale farms and ran them for centuries. It should be no surprise that taking the farms from a people who ran them for centuries (ie the "whites") and giving the land to the "blacks", who have relatively little experience running such agricultural enterprises, is not producing results.

[supercontra]

Giving someone anything for political reasons will always result in failure. If you don't have the skills you will fail.

[mas-36]

because, regardless if it is working or not, the Black people do not want the whites there.

Point of the matter is, they are just being racist, not smart.



But...but...but...but......Blacks can't be racist, it's impossible. ;-)

[Rakki]

If Zimbabwe was a basket case, they are going to need a new term to describe South Africa. Silo case, perhaps.

[SoSo]

Zimbabwe actually had a class of competent black farmers, who knew how to get the greatest yield out of what little land was left to them by the Rhodesians. Unfortunately, not all of them were Shona, not all of them were ZANU-PF people, and Robert Mugabe cared nothing for them. He wanted the farms to be given to his guerrilla fighters and political supporters, most of whom didn't know anything about farming. Many ZANU-PF leaders were awarded more than one farm apeice, while the poor Zimbabweans who were supposed to benefit from this redistribution got nothing, in fact, less than nothing, since before the confiscations many of them, while they owned no land themselves, were at least employed as farmworkers, and lost their jobs as the farms were seized by incompetent political cronies and fell into disuse.
Mugabe's destruction of the Zimbabwean agricultural sector is nearly complete, and is rivaled only by his ruination of the country's educational system. It's hard to imagine that he and his party could have done a more thorough job of devastating a once-prosperous country, even if they had deliberately set out to do so.
Unfortunately, it appears that many in South Africa, such as Julius Malema, have learned nothing from the debacle in Zimbabwe.

[3rdMillhouse]

Well, go on, give'em (the blacks) more land, and watch it as they run the country's crops into ruins.

[Henry's Fork]

Just read the article on SA in Nat Geo Mag this month, said that over 80% of the farm lands are still owned by whites. Is the number correct?

[I can't think of a name]

I guess they want to be just like Zimbabwe after all, for emotional reasons.

[drevil5000]

Just read the article on SA in Nat Geo Mag this month, said that over 80% of the farm lands are still owned by whites. Is the number correct?

Thats sounds right, might be higher though.

[Rudolph]

Just read the article on SA in Nat Geo Mag this month, said that over 80% of the farm lands are still owned by whites. Is the number correct?

Yes, sounds right - for commercial land. Also remember: 80% of the country is desert. But the high-grade land still belongs to the blacks though. It's located in the tribal areas of especially the Xhosas in the Eastern Cape, but they have never attempted commercial farming on that land - really sad. Plus, the government is sitting with a vast amount of land in their name, which is also suitable, but is not being distributed for various reasons. Bottomline, there is enough land for everyone, especially seeing as whites make up less than 10% of the population these days, but the blacks aren't interested in starting from scratch, they want to take farms already established and that's that. Same thing in Rhodesia, the highest grade land was and still is in the hands of the tribal homelands, but they refuse to work and develop the land.

[wilhelm]

Just read the article on SA in Nat Geo Mag this month, said that over 80% of the farm lands are still owned by whites. Is the number correct?

And all of that land was developed from virgin soil over generations by who?

As Rudolf said above, the Eastern Cape is probably the most fertile region in the country, and is in the hands of the Xhosa. The government also owns vast swathes of land. South Africa is a large country, with plenty to go around. The problem is, it's too much like hard work for some to actually develop this land themselves.

I firmly believe most talk in Africa about farm/land redistribution is absolutely political, and wildly impractical, if not criminally dangerous. Food security should be absolute priority, followed by a sustainable programme that will take a couple of decades to develop a commercial black farming presence.

All these distribution policies have led to disaster in Africa, every single time. Purely political, and criminally neglectful of the future. The governments own figures for previous white farms sold over on the "willing seller" premis shows that 90% of these former commercially productive farms are now no longer productive, and in some cases have been abandoned.