First and foremost, I wish to first thank Hercules du Preez for responding to my letter which featured in the 8 June edition of the News, People starting to lose their patience.
The debate on land reform is currently taking place across many fronts. This should be expected, given the complexity of the matter. However, there is a danger that related but distinct factors may be mashed into one, thus confounding rather than clarifying the fundamental issues.
On Wednesday, 20 July, in the News, I notice on the letters page a headline Your talk is not so cheap!
In the letter, Du Preez is quoted as having said, “He [Raliphi Master Push Xolelizwe] favours the expropriation of white farmers’ land Zimbabwean-style without compensation”.
The recent call to amend the property clause of the South African Constitution to allow for expropriation of land without compensation is one of the first bold pronouncements made by the President Cyril Ramaphosa during his first State of the Nation Address, which was subsequently approved by Parliament.
This step was taken not only as a means to redress the widening racial disparities in land ownership, but also a necessary condition for ensuring sustainable reconciliation, healing of the past wounds and justice.
Du Preez is not the only one who is panicky. Other groups, such as the economist land owners, and those in the agriculture sector expressed concerns on how this would affect farming and food security without hitting investment and production that could lead to economic damage similar to farm-seizures in neighbouring Zimbabwe.
Their limited thinking is that transferring land to people with no skill would damage the economy. The president allayed such fear by explaining that the process would be done within the confines of the Constitution and the law, and it would target unused or derelict land owned by municipalities and state-owned enterprises.
It is not just big commercial farms that control the land. In 2002, three multinational [companies] controlled 90 per cent of the maize, wheat and sorghum market; in 2007 food processing was monopolised by four big businesses; in 2008 three multi-national [companies] controlled 86 per cent of the fertiliser market; in 2010 the big retail chains controlled 68 per cent of the food retail market.
These white capitalist monopolies exploit their black workers, squeeze consumers through their influence over prices and push small and medium farmers out of business by monopolising the market for farm inputs and the market for processing, marketing and selling farm produce.
