Cindy-Lou Dale

South African Land Reform

 

 

Not so long ago it was considered rude to mention ‘South Africa’ in polite company. Practically the whole world had imposed sanctions against her. World leaders accused the South African government of oppressing their black population -- even though all her citizens, including the blacks, enjoyed the highest standard of living in all of Africa. When international officials later verified this, the orchestrated strategy against South Africa escalated to the government being accused of theft – theft of the land which, the blacks claimed, historically belonged to them.

 

Did anybody think to check the history books?

 

The first white settlers to arrive in South Africa came from Holland via the Dutch East India Company in 1652. At that time South Africa had only a sparse community of Bushmen and Hottentots -- neither of which are black African tribes. Bushmen are Sanids and Hottentots are Khoisanids and both these tribes died out in 1715 and 1717 respectively in two smallpox epidemics.

 

Zulu’s believe they are descendents of a chief from the Congo and during the 16th century began a slow migration to the south. By the18th century the Zulu tribe were established in Zululand, which later become KwaZulu Natal, where they formed tribes and clans.

 

The Xhosa's, who originate from the Bantu tribe, come from Nigeria. The Xhosa’s gradually migrated to southern Zaire and then split in various directions to cover most of Africa south of the Sahara. A large majority could travel no further south than Zimbabwe because their cattle and plants were not adapted to the Mediterranean climate of South Africa (it was the French Huguenots Settlers who brought the Mediterranean skills and techniques to South Africa in 1688). However, by the late 1600’s some Xhosa tribes had established themselves in the Eastern Cape.

 

The first black tribal flood from central Africa began in the late 1700’s after gold and diamonds were discovered in South Africa. These migrants were employed as contract workers on the mines. When their contracts expired they decided to stay – which, according to modern law, makes them illegal aliens.

 

·         17 February 2005: "One Bullet, One Boer." Black students at the country's only remaining Afrikaans university.

·         12 February 2005: "Ms. Rice should know, because she comes from a history of slavery, that the white man is not a friend. All whites are enemies" Mr. Robert Mugabe launched an attack on the American Secretary of State, Ms. Condoleezza Rice, February 12, 2005

·         3 May 2004: "Steps will be taken and we can drive them out of this land. We have the capacity to do so," Namibian President Sam Nujoma threatened to seize land from white farmers.

 

Now, eleven years after Mandela’s rise to power, the country is showing alarming signs of descending into Third World status at numerous levels as the emigration brain drain has had a catastrophic impact on the economy and many believe that black economic empowerment has failed dismally.

 

In 1992, the year Nelson Mandela took the reigns, South Africa boasted 57,980 (Census of Agriculture 2004) commercial farmers and a population broadly estimated at around 37-million (Dept. Statistics SA). That same year, Mandela opened the country’s borders and there was a terrific insurgence of blacks from all over Africa, which pushed the population up to 52-million (Dept. Statistics SA). As such, South Africa now has an additional 15-million mouths to feed, but now with 12,162 fewer farmers (Census of Agriculture 2004).

 

The writing is on the wall for all the world to see.

 

Many black Africans are squatting on land owned by private individuals and corporates; those that squat on government property are soon ordered to leave, as occurred in January 2004 when the ANC government ordered heavily armed guards and police to destroy 300 squatter huts and forcibly remove some 3,000 inhabitants from state owned communal grazing land, near Johannesburg. This land, the squatters claimed, was theirs to occupy. Does the ANC not realise that using teargas, stun grenades, policemen with dogs, evacuation at gunpoint and then bulldozing the shacks in such forced removals are criminal acts and could be construed as reversed apartheid? This was a question I posed to Minister Joemat-Pettersson. Her response was: “no comment”.

 

Why does the South African Government refuse to take any action on illegal occupations of commercial land sites, which are overrun by similar squatter invasions, even when ordered by the Court to do so? This was another question posed to Minister Joemat-Pettersson, who again, replied with a “no comment”.

 

·         10 June 2005: Speaking at an Agricultural Conference for Black Economic Empowerment in KwaZulu-Natal, Land Affairs and Agricul­ture Minister Ms. Thoko Didiza said, “We must realise that it is impossible for South Africa's land assets to grow, we will have to share what already exists," she said. She added that in order to create space to share the land's wealth, some people would have to leave the sector.

·         10 June 2005: The Centre for Development and Enterprise tabled a report on land reform in South Africa, in which it claimed the government-driven land reform process was not aligned to economic priorities of most black South Africans, who wanted jobs, houses and services in urban areas instead of land to farm. They said the government had to "urbanise" and "modernise" its land-reform policy as the report said some 60-70% of South Africa's population was urbanised, and that people seek access to urban land because they want to be close to urban opportunities and jobs.

·         27 October 2003: "We have therefore given the government an ultimatum to give us land or we will simply follow the example of our brothers in Zimbabwe and invade." black activists like Supho Makhombothi, of the Mpumalanga Labour Tenants’.

 

Numerous South African newspapers reported during May and June 2005 that the National Land Affairs and Agriculture Minister, Ms. Thoko Didiza, is set to put in motion South Africa’s first land reclamation order using a new ‘compensation’ law recently approved by President Thabo Mbeki which, when defined, gives the Government the right to take land and pay the owner only a fraction of its true value. The threat of land confiscation has inflamed fears amongst white South African farmers that they are fast approaching the Zimbabwe style ‘land grabs’.

 

A South African farmer (who prefers to remain anonymous), confided “…forcing white farmers out of business is not alarming at all. It was only a matter of time -- we have seen this happen across the whole African continent for decades. Essentially Minister Didiza’s deep down egoistic incentive amounts to political expediency to ensure that the ANC wins future elections even at the cost of bringing about another African state where famine and flies abound and a few fat cats rule by force of arms, resulting in protracted ethnic cleansing and begging for food and cash in the first world.” 

 

He continues, “I watch numerous religious television shows, especially the Satellite channels broadcast all over the world, and am amazed that one such daily program relays emotional pleas to collect cash from viewers to feed half a million unfortunates.  They beg for money which they claim will go towards feeding and clothing the poor, fly infested, famine ravaged, have-not’s. However, the viewers are being fleeced while not being informed that the word ‘famine’ did not exist in that now impoverished country when whites were running the agricultural economy. Famine followed after black tyrants drove white farmers off the land.”

 

·         During a Truth & Reconciliation Commission meeting in March 1997, PAC member, Mr. Sebolai Nkwedi testified that they “had been given orders to attack farmers.”

·         During a National Assembly debate pertaining to the Extension of the Land Tenure Bill, on 28 August 1997, Mr. M N Muendane, Secretary General of the PAC, said " ... they stole the land from us.”

·         ANC members in the Northern Province Legislature are reported to have stated after the 1999 general election "... we (the ANC) are a potentially dangerous and slumbering group who will teach our children to change legislation to ensure that we will own 87% of the land". They continued saying that “the Blacks will reflect on this matter and hit back… there are other means we can apply which would make right-wing members leave the country in tears.”

 

The writer spoke with a (black) investigating police officer at the scene of a double farm murder -- he requested his name and rank be withheld, as well as the details and location of the crime. He stated, “These executions were committed with military precision. These men are trained to do this. I really believe there might be a third force behind these strikes as they are clearly premeditated and perfectly planned. These people know what to do and how to do it. The perpetrators watch the farms and get info from the farm workers. They study the setup and the house for a time to find out the routine of the people living there.” He further stated he and his colleagues felt certain these murders were state sponsored. 

 

As President Mbeki is making huge inroads for the liquidation of African debt, should G8 member countries not be demanding answers as to why he is in violation of his own Freedom Charter which clearly states “Restriction of land ownership on a racial basis shall be ended…” yet his own government classifies land ownership by race.

 

G8 members may also like to hear his explanation as to why there has been an 83% increase of attacks on white farmers since 1994.

 

An explanation is also forthcoming as to why the South African government spends more money on arms deals than it does on land reform -- even though there is no enemy in sight.

 

What about the Landless People’s Movement, who are openly threatening to kill white farmers due to the Government’s inaction on the land issues?

 

And the statement made by Mbeki’s Labor Minister, Membathisi Mdladlana, who declared support for Zimbabwe’s land redistribution program when he said, "… we have a lot to learn from President Mugabe's program of land reform.”

 

Or why his brother, Moeletsi Mbeki, head of the South African Institute of International Affairs, made the following statement: "The average African is poorer now than during the age of colonialism.”

 

In an application to the TRC on 25 March 1997, Mr. Hendrick Leeuw, a convicted farm murderer, stated that he and other members of a PAC Task Force waited for their victim at the farm gate and shot him before attacking his lady friend, Leeuw also stated that he had grown up on his victim’s farm and bore no grudge against him, but had picked his target after his APLA commander, Mr. Jan Shoba, had given orders that farmers have to be attacked and killed. Two other assailants corroborated this statement and said the killing of White farmers had been one of the PAC's political goals.

 

Word Count: 1,824                      

© Cindy-Lou Dale