Reply With QuoteLOL ... Awesome. I guess white South Africans didn't learn the lessons of Rhodesia.
South Africa Tells White Farmers To Sell Lands or Face Eviction
By MIKE PFLANZ - The Daily Telegraph
August 14, 2006
NAIROBI, Kenya — The South African government has given white farmers six months to sell their land or be forced to leave under the country's post-apartheid land restitution program.
The ruling African National Congress promised to return 30% of white-owned farms to black South Africans when it came to power in 1994.
But so far, only 4% of that land has been transferred. Most of the white farmers have agreed to sell their land or pay claimants compensation, but tortuous bureaucracy means that land or funds have not yet been transferred.
The deadline — the first time that the South African government has imposed a time limit — is aimed at the 8,107 white farmers who so far have refused the prices they are offered or have demanded proof from those claiming to be the original owners. The government says it must speed up the process to meet its December 2008 deadline to complete redistribution.
"We will no longer waste time negotiating with people who refuse to see the transformation of our country," the agriculture and land affairs minister, Lulu Xingwana, said. She announced the policy shift over the weekend in Limpopo province in the country's agricultural heartland.
"From now on, we will only negotiate for six months, and if all fails, expropriation would take place."
The program was set up to give land seized by the white minority during British colonization or under apartheid back to black people who can prove that they have a genuine claim to specific plots.
Nationwide, 79,696 claim forms were lodged before the government's cut-off deadline in 1998. In Limpopo alone, landless blacks have applied for the return of 99.8% of the province's commercial farmland. Many applicants lack documents linking them to particular parcels of land. In some cases, family trees proving ancestral claims have had to be painstakingly drawn up.
Mrs. Xingwana's department has already identified several properties that will be taken over if owners refuse to agree on a sale price.
Land claims are an especially emotive part of the post-apartheid reforms, as they often bring white families who have lived on the land for generations up against blacks whose historical ties to the land run even deeper.
But the government has been quick to dismiss comparisons between its land policies and those in neighboring Zimbabwe, where forced and often violent redistribution of white-owned farms has crippled the country's agricultural economy.
Mrs. Xingwana stressed that South Africa would seize land only as a last resort if all other attempts at a "willing buyer, willing seller" arrangement failed. Landowners could also appeal against the decisions in the courts, she said. Critics of the process disagree not with the principle of giving land back but with what will happen to the highly profitable farms after they are acquired.
Many black farmers lack the experience or the capital to run large commercial farms. The Agriculture Ministry has established a 10-year handover program, whereby white and black farmers can run farms as a joint venture until the new owners have acquired the skills to maintain their profitability.
LOL ... Awesome. I guess white South Africans didn't learn the lessons of Rhodesia.
can someone please send me guns and ammo, lots of ammo ?
Im still waiting for the day when they tell us to give up our houses....Originally Posted by Masai
lock 'n load indeed....
one person one vote
there was a curios incedent in the previous election in Zimbabwe:
in one of the districts all 17 000 of the 13 000 registered voters, voted for mugabe...
africa still struggles with maths aswell...
Not enough people im afraid....one person one vote
Please forgive my ignorance on this issue, but would it be very difficult for white South Africans to immigrate to The UK or The Netherlands? Not that they should have to, but the future does not look promising.
Many have already. I for one would if I could get the money together...
I cant speak for the rest of the South Africans on the board....but i guess they would too....
Also, aside from all the trouble we do live in a very scenic country with great weather (except for today...it pissing cats and dogs)..... If I had to stay, that would be the reason. The problem is we are living in what is essentially becoming reverse aphartheid.
ANC is going the same way as Zimbabwe ... It is disgracefull
Well thats a crappy move that will result in a decrease of crops. I hope they don't request more food aid because of it.
Sell and get out. Normally I would say stay and fight this, but we have seen what happens. Even if you are a white land owner and manage to hold onto the land we'll see simply a repeat in events over the past 4 years in Zimbabwe.
I've already seen news articles and radio reports oon the BBC and NPR that are claiming these new black farmers are getting taken advantage of and then go into the interview and find out that they are simply ignorant when ti comes to farming. One of the guys was claiming X, Y, and Z and all I could do was laugh. Its like giving a farm to a child. You have what amounts to a day laborer or city dweller suddenly trying his hand at farming with absolutely no prior knowledge or experience.
South Africa is HOOOOOOOOOSED.
Until know I thought, that South Africas future looked quite promising, with the football championship coming up (despite problems with AIDS and criminal behaviour). I thought it was on the right way.
But repeating the mistakes of Zimbawe surely isn`t the right way. The EU should entitle the white farmers to come to Europe if they want/ are forced too.
The lion is now becoming a lamb. A shame. South Africa could have been a great and powerful country.
Instead of eminant domain, is there an option to enter a 99 year lease. This way the government saves face, and the farmer continues with the business. As with any industrialized country, it is very difficult to attract people into agriculture. Lots of work, very little profit margins. The profit margin is attained by the farmers ability to invest in new technology, mitigate costs, plan for future crops, and "predict" the market trend in pricing. You don't want to produce too much to create a glut, Don't want to produce too little either to lose marketshare.
What would the land re-distribution mean to the South African vinyards, beef and dairy industries?
After 1949, The KMT in Taiwan redistributed the lands by exchanging it for shares in government owned industrial businesses to landowners and deeded the land to the peasants. It worked and prevented Communist infiltration.
I've read somewhere that Mozambique is courting white Zimbabwe farmers to invest in thier country. Unlike its neighbor, Mozamibique has had consistant economic growth in recent years.
Posting Permissions
