printThe South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR), a respectable think tank, has a hard time seeing convincing proof of crimes of racial hatred in the mutilated, violated remains of thousands of rural white South Africans (scroll down to Update III). The SAIRR is, thankfully, prepared to disbelieve the ANC when it warms of the impending nationalization of productive land, and then quickly retracts the rumor:
“Earlier this week the Institute’s new Unit for Risk Analysis described the proposed nationalisation of agricultural land in South Africa as a potentially cataclysmic event for South Africa’s economy. The Government has subsequently denied any intention to nationalise private property. We have reason to doubt their assurances and warn again that the nationalisation of agricultural land is now a published government proposal, that it follows a trend that saw the nationalisation of both mineral and water rights, and that it follows previous efforts to introduce far reaching expropriation legislation. The likelihood of the Government adopting this policy proposal is therefore something that South Africa’s domestic and foreign investors should be very aware of.
In a statement released to the media this week the Unit for Risk Analysis warned that the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform had proposed two future land use models for South Africa in their Strategic Plan 2010-2013. The precise wording of their proposals is as follows:
“To facilitate this discussion, the Department is proposing two options: all productive land will become a national asset and a quitrent land tenure system either with perpetual or limited rights is envisaged. This may require an amendment to Section 25 of the Constitution. All tenure legislation will be subsequently reviewed and brought under a single national land policy framework. Option two will focus on a review of current tenure policies and legislation in order to maintain the current free-hold title system but within the ambit of a land ceilings framework linked to categorisation of farmers. Option two will also investigate a State Land Management Board to facilitate the management of State owned agricultural land and leases.”
On the first model, which proposes declaring all productive land as a national asset, we commented that, ‘Inherent in the proposal is that ownership of the land will [then] rest with the State. The State would then have the authority to declare who could work the land, for what purposes, and under what conditions.’
The second model suggests placing a ceiling on how much land individual farmers can own while maintaining a freehold land tenure system for South Africa. Regarding this proposal we warned that, ‘Commercial agriculture in South Africa depends on significant economies of scale to remain competitive. Undermining that efficiency via limited land holdings risks many serious repercussions, such as a steep reduction in agricultural investment and a commensurate fall in agricultural employment which will in turn drive up levels of rural poverty and provide an impetus for greater rural to urban migration.’
Relevant to both proposals we added that, ‘Government assurances that the proposals were merely a mechanism for taking failed farms back from black farmers were a red herring to conceal the State’s more plausible intention to wrest control of agricultural production from white commercial farmers,’ and that, ‘It is ironic that the Government would use its own failed land reform programme to justify the seizure of remaining productive land in the country.’
We forecast that if either of the proposals is adopted, South Africa will experience repercussions that will damage the commercial farming industry in South Africa.
The Government and the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform have responded to our warnings by saying that there is no plan to nationalise South Africa’s farms. The Government has further stated that it respects private property rights and that this will not change. We have little confidence in these assurances and believe them to be an effort to mislead the public and the media.
In part, this is because the Government’s assurances are so obviously contrary to their own written and published plan. While various government officials in the last 48 hours have said that the plan does not talk about ‘nationalisation,’ it does talk about private owners ceding control of their land to the State which will then lease that land back to the farmers. The Government’s proposal also identifies the need to alter Section 25 of the Constitution which deals with and guarantees private property rights.
A second reason to doubt the Government’s assurances is that this latest policy proposal appears to follow an established trend of the State seizing control of what it regards as important ‘national assets.’
In 2002 through the Minerals and Petroleum Development Act, the Government took custodianship of all mineral rights in the country thereby ending private ownership. Mining companies had to re-apply for those rights in order to continue mining. This legislative step did significant harm to the mining industry in the country and to investor sentiment, particularly in the mining sector.
Similarly, the Government took control of all water resources in the country through the National Water Act of 1998. The previous distinction between public and privately owned water was eliminated, making all water a ‘public asset.’ Water allowances were imposed and the Government handed itself the authority of managing the country’s water resources.
What we are now seeing in terms of the Government’s proposed land seizure scheme is therefore a logical progression of government policy that has sought to bring under state control what it regards as important ‘national assets’.
The third reason to doubt the Government’s sincerity is that this latest proposal appears to be a continuation of a pattern of thinking that gave rise to the Expropriation Bill of 2008. The Institute published extensively on the bill, which would have given the State the authority to seize any fixed or movable property ‘in the national interest’ without paying compensation. Ahead of the 2009 elections the Government declared that the controversial Bill would be shelved.
The Government has recently admitted that 9 out of every ten land reform projects that it has managed have failed. Under these circumstances it is unlikely that this same Government will be able to successfully manage South Africa’s entire commercial farming industry. This is particularly so if they erode the capital value in agricultural land, which is important collateral that farmers have against which to raise loans to run their businesses.
We are therefore of the view that if either of the two proposals goes ahead then South Africa will experience a steep reduction in agricultural investment. This will translate into a commensurate fall in agricultural employment which will in turn drive up levels of rural poverty and provide an impetus for greater rural to urban migration.
Further we expect that South Africa’s ability to meet its food needs will be undermined. This will see knock-on effects on downstream food processing industries with corresponding falls in employment and investment. Upstream supply industries will see their markets shrink as demand for their products falls. South Africa will be forced to import a greater portion of its food needs, placing pressure on both the current account deficit and on food price inflation.
The above repercussions will see more poor rural people flocking to urban areas. The Government’s ability to meet service delivery demands will be compromised even further than it already is. In an environment of escalating protest action against Government on the peripheries of large urban settlements, this will pose a further challenge to the hegemony of the ANC.
It is uncertain to what extent the Government and the ANC identifies these risks. Certainly sentiment within the Government and the ANC ignored similar warnings on skills, mining, health, education, security, electricity, and labour market policy for which South Africa paid a heavy price. It is quite possible that the Government may therefore proceed with this scheme only to try and reverse the policy as its negative effects become more apparent.
It is also possible that the Government may identify these repercussions but proceed regardless in order to achieve what they may see as the more important end of breaking the back of white commercial agriculture and handing farms to black farmers. On this score the ANC leadership’s recent support for incitements to shoot and kill white Afrikaans farmers is pertinent. Certainly the Government’s attitude to white skills in the civil service suggests that they are willing to sacrifice performance for racial ideology.
We must also warn against regarding the second of the two proposals as a lesser of two evils. Destroying the economies of scale that make South Africa’s commercial agriculture sector viable will result in precisely the same consequences as we have spelt out above. Keep in mind that when Zanu-PF in Zimbabwe commenced its land reform programme it also commenced with a proposal of ‘one farmer, one farm’.
We therefore warn our readers and subscribers to take this latest policy proposal seriously, to identify the likely consequences of the proposal, and to prepare for the eventuality of the State going ahead with seizing all or part of South Africa’s agricultural land holdings. We caution strongly against taking Government assurances to the contrary to heart particularly when viewed against the track record of that same Government in nationalising mineral and water rights and in proposing legislation to seize any fixed or movable property without paying compensation.
* Frans Cronje and Catherine Schulze
Update I (April 19): Plans for the collectivization of farms are underway amid the carnage. Every online news page is full of death and suffering. Here are two additional news items that appeared alongside the story Conrad posted:
* Gruesome attack on F State family
* Two held for farm attack
* Elderly lady dies in grisly attack
You follow a link and with it more gruesome findings:
Farmer shot in bed (“nothing was taken”)
Update II (April 20): Vrye Denker writes:
Please help us. It’s all good and well that we intellectualize this issue in the comments section, but I am afraid we need more “tangible” aid. I want to get out of here but I don’t have the money or skills to leave.
Getting the word OUT is not merely intellectualizing. Most Westerners have no idea of the reality of life in sainted Mandela’s South Africa. Many of my South African readers, on the other hand, prefer to write to me personally. To which I say: why do you want to discuss life in that country with someone who already knows the awful facts? I’ve committed to keep the facts alive and current on this blog (despite a lack of time and resources) with the hope that the more public they become the greater the awareness of the need for a solution to the assault on ethnic white South Africans.
Search this blog (under South Africa) and you will find that I have discussed the options of immigration. I have also covered Canada’s courageous landmark granting of refugee status to a repeat victim of black South Africa. The gentleman in question was without resources, but was resourceful. I cannot recommend a course of action. All I can do is provide information. See the following posts for examples:
Advice to South Africans Pondering Emigration
What about Argentina for South African farmers, who are among the best in the world?
I am still awaiting my friend activist Dan Roodt’s call to action. It is his to make: He (not I) lives in the heart of darkness. However, and I say this cautiously, the white minority under assault needs to begin to organize. Think: How organized is the criminal enterprise renamed the South African Police Service—a mostly illiterate, ill-trained force, riven by feuds, fetishes, and factional loyalties? This lot is seizing fire arms from law abiding citizens and selling them for profit to other criminals.
I doubt that there is anything in this entry that anybody who keeps up with current events views with surprise. These third world yutzes are like the sorcerer’s apprentice. [Great analogy] They take their power seriously, then get full of themselves and start to take over various institutions. All accompanied by the encouraging cheers of the great unwashed, who are their ardent supporters. Of course they can’t successfully manage squat and the whole economy goes in the tank. Obama is the same kind of yutz and is attempting the same thing. None of our brilliant pundits, pols and scribes seem to notice.
This weekend there was another farm attack close to Ventersdorp, where the farmers was shot and stabbed. Thank heavens he survived the attack by multiple assailants. There was also a murder on a small farm Outside Polokwane (Used to be Pietersburg) where the husband was beaten to death and his wife gang raped by multiple attackers. If this in itself was not bad enough the attackers then severely assaulted the couples 4 year old daughter. It seems to just be getting worse as these animals even attack helpless toddlers and infants.
House set alight with family inside
2010-04-20 07:49
Here is another report in one of this mornings news papres about a attack on a farm over the weekend. This is not criminality it is an organized military operation,the attackers could even have been members of the South African police as 9mm cartridge casings and shotgun shells were found on the scene and the police did not respond to the victims calls.
Buks Viljoen, Beeld
Johannesburg – Attackers set a wooden house on fire on a farm near Carolina at the weekend, while a woman and her children were still inside. The armed attackers had tied the door with a piece of wire, trapping the victims inside.
The woman’s parents were shot at when they rushed to their aid.
“They were bent on killing us. This had nothing to do with theft,” said Cornelia de Wet, 32, from the farm Kwaggafontein, near Carolina.
She woke up to the smell of smoke at about 22:00 on Saturday night. She saw the wall and the curtain in her room were in flames.
The attackers had poured diesel on the house before setting it on fire.
Lost consciousness
De Wet tried in vain to wake two of her children, Cornelia, 11, and Joey, 2, who were sleeping on the double bed with her.
“Apparently the smoke made them lose consciousness.”
She extinguished the burning curtain and tried to open the door, but couldn’t, because it was tied with a piece of wire.
Her parents, Nelie, 62, and Jan de Wet, 65, live in the farmstead about 50m from her house. Her other daughter, Sarah, 8, was sleeping at the farmstead that night.
De Wet called her parents for help over the two-way radio, which had been installed barely two weeks prior to the attack.
“When they came out of the house, shots were fired at them from the dark.”
The grandparents shot into the dark with a shotgun and a pistol in an attempt to chase away the attackers.
De Wet said they also shot at her when she leaned through the kitchen window to untie the wire around the latch of the door.
According to her, the shootout lasted for nearly two hours.
Attempts to contact the police in Carolina, about 12km from the farm, were initially fruitless because they didn’t answer their phone.
She then phoned her brother, Jan de Wet jnr, who farms near Belfast.
Shots still flying
He rushed to the farm. “When I got there, the shots were still flying,” he said. “I yelled at the attackers that I was going to kill them.”
He, too, started firing in the direction of the attackers. The shooting then settled down.
De Wet jnr estimated that there were between 10 and 15 attackers.
“The attack was planned in great detail and they came prepared with enough ammunition.”
The police picked up 9mm and shotgun shells as well as a few rounds near the two houses.
One of the rounds was of a strange calibre that is not known to the police.
The long grass hampered the search for evidence, but De Wet jnr did say they found footprints near the scene.
No-one was injured in the attack.
– Beeld
Please help us. It’s all good and well that we intellectualize this issue in the comments section, but I am afraid we need more “tangible” aid. I want to get out of here but I don’t have the money or skills to leave. I’ve had to fight for my life on multiple occasions and each time it is but God’s mercy that kept me safe. What is heartening is hearing of protests in Sweden that carry our cause, but again, we have reached the point where we need to prepare to physically defend ourselves. I own a crossbow and a tazer. My application for a gun license so that I can buy a proper shotgun will probably take years to process and I am not guaranteed a positive outcome, even though I am a good little citizen. That means I can probably take out two or three determined men, but unfortunately attack parties recently grew in size to ten or more.
Things are heating up quickly. I think very soon the Boers will reach a threshold offering only two choices: break the law and begin defending themselves with force, or be annihilated.
Maybe the blacks no longer feel they should have to wait for Mandela to die.
If it’s getting worse in SA it’s getting bad indeed. When these things start to escalate they tend to get worse. There may be an all out uprising in the near future. If so, Heaven help the farmers. Lord knows the government won’t help. In fact the government probably will give it’s tacit support.
The Sorcerers Apprentice indeed. Stopping this would prove impossible for the present government in SA. They are simply too inept to carry out any action that won’t further erode their own legitimacy. The only chance the Boer have is that the government will become so “hollowed out” that they can band together on smaller plots, meaning some will have to give up their land.
These farms are to spread out to defend without a lot more manpower and most of the young men seem to leave at the first opportunity… and who could blame them. Unless the Boer centralize their manpower and do their own farming they will fall one by one. There’s no future in SA, not for Boer or Black African.
I must apologise, my “intellectualise” comment was probably a bit of a blanket reaction to what happens on other forums. I am acutely aware of Ilana’s efforts to help us. She should be commended.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/features/3631600/Ill-stay-to-realise-Davids-dream.html
This is a three-year old link to an article I’d previously posted on BAB, following the murder of Anglo-Zulu War historian David Rattray. At the time, some business leaders met with (then-President) Mbeki to try and persuade him to deal with the crime issue in a serious manner, but backed down after the meeting.
Naturally, the situation has not gotten better on its own, only worse.
The following is a link to an ISS (a specialized private security firm) report on the murder of ET.
http://censorbugbear-reports.blogspot.com/
Traditional African field-writing signposting is a method used to provide information to attackers by “spies”, usually someone close to the victim or someone who was able to get information about the victim’s routine. This method is also used in the urban areas. It constists inter alia of the stategic placing of emty bottles, cans, wrappers etc. with different colours/objects/positioning all having different meanings for instance what type of resistance can be expected.(thats why, even though I do not know the meaning of all the signs, when I get home at night I pick up anything that is lying outside my property, even though it may be “innocent”).
The report refered to above concludes that his murder was not something that happened on the spur of the moment, but rather that it was planned over an extensive period of time. Perhaps by Government to provoke action from whites.
The ANC goverment refuses to take responsibility for inciting racial hatred agains the white minority in South Africa. While they deny that they are planning to turn South Africa into the next Zimbabwe in the media so as not to jeapordize the World Cup, they continue to demonize the white minority especialy Boer Farmers as the cause of all that is wrong with this country. They are just using the same tactics Mugabe used by blaming a minority for their lack of delivery on Zanu PF’s promises made to their electorate. This ANC goverment are just trying to do enough damage control so that the World will not start to stay away from this sporting spectacle that will ultimately ruin this countries economy. This goverment is either incapable of stopping Malema and his proposed polocies or they are endorsing him and his viewpoints. When one reads the goverments reaction on discussions with agricultural unions and the way they shift the blame onto the white’s and farmers in general, I can only come to the conclusion that they are planning to exterminate the Afrikaner people and to distribute our possesions among themselves to appease the uneducated masses. The irony is that even if they do this the masses will not benefit from this course of action, the ANC elite will benefit but the average black man in the street will suffer a far worse fate than he is currently experiencing. Famine and disease as well as political persecution for all people speaking out against these practises are the future for this once promising country. The irony is the west does not care about us their kin folk and silently endorse this crime. Please read the below article published on news 24 today and you will realize that this goverment is determined to go ahead with this crazy policy.
ANC: Farmers to blame for attacks
2010-04-21 09:28
Lizel Steenkamp, Beeld
Cape Town – It’s farmers’ fault that many farms are unsafe, ANC MPs said on Tuesday.
André Botha, chair of Agri SA’s policy committee on rural safety, said during a presentation to the portfolio committee on police that the derogatory statements about white farmers made by government officials and senior politicians, is one of the biggest challenges.
Patrick Chauke, ANC MP, dismissed this.
“Political statements are the least of your worries. Organised agriculture knows all too well that they are the cause of the problems. The police try their best, but the solution lies with you,” he said to Botha.
Chauke carried on to argue that farm workers are abused, and that illegal immigrants are “held prisoner” by farmers.
“Most of the cattle theft is committed by the farmers themselves. And they sell alcohol to the people who live on the farm.”
Aggressive farmers
According to Sindi Chikunga, ANC MP and committee chair, there are many kind-hearted farmers.
“But it’s also a fact that there are many violently aggressive farmers and you (Agri SA) should publicly condemn them.”
Allegations were also made that farmers are reluctant to become police reservists and don’t want to get involved with community policing forums and sector policing.
Botha, who is a police reservist, told Beeld afterwards that he was extremely unhappy about what happened during the meeting. He dismissed and denied the statement that farmers don’t want to help the police to secure their farms.
“We try our best to get involved (with sector policing), but the systems and the incompetent people (within the police) prevent our participation.”
Botha said the government is not doing its duty to protect farmers, and then it wants to shift all the responsibility onto the organised agriculture sector.
“I’m an ordinary citizen with certain rights. The politicians should acknowledge where the responsibility lies. It’s their duty to govern. To leave the ball in our court… No, I am definitely not comfortable with that.”
Food security under threat
According to Agri SA’s statistics, over the past 18 years there have been up to 11 785 farm attacks and 1 804 farmers were murdered. Up to 121 000 livestock, worth about R365m, was stolen in the 2008-’09 financial year alone.
Botha warned that commercial agriculture can’t absorb these losses indefinitely and that food security is under threat.
Agri SA supports the government’s plan for rural safety and prefers it to the old commando system.
But Botha said the plan is falling apart due to an enormous lack of leadership, management and controls within the police. Resources are abused, there’s corruption and most station commanders don’t know how to apply sector policing in rural areas.
Cope MP Mluleki George supported the ANC’s position and said Agri SA, which represents about 80% of the country’s commercial farmers, should accept their co- responsibility for the safety of farmers and farm workers.
The latest statistics regarding attacks and murders on farms will be available in May, when police officials present their plan for rural security to Parliament.
– Beeld
It is time that Western Goverments start taking responsibility and speak out against this eminent catastrophe that will mean the end of a once promising country. The silence is deafening as was the case with Zimbabwe. Only there will be far more bloodshed and suffering among the minorities here and South Africa will make Zimbabwe seem like a Sunday school excursion in comparison. Western Goverments like France, Netherlands and the United Kingdom should recognize what is going on and threaten the ANC goverment with economic sanctions and Military action if there is any large scale land invasions and genocidal attacks like what happened against the illegal immigrants in the South African townships during 2008.They were willing to attack Iraq on trumped up and false charges about so called weopons of mass destruction. They however did nothing about Rwanda and Zimbabwe and will turn the blind eye toward what is happening over here because there is no money to be made out of oil. Our blood will be on the hands of all Western Goverments who do not aknowledge that the threat to us is real. We demand that all white South Africans qualify for refugee status in Western Countries and that we are assisted in creating a Afrikaner goverment in exile to protect the righs of our people.
I am a south african and I agree with every single article this brave women has written!! The 2010 world cup is already a total disaster. Tourists will get raped, robbed and murdered here and hopefully this will open the eyes of the world and help south africans to get refugee status in other countries.
This quote: “‘It is ironic that the Government would use its own failed land reform programme to justify the seizure of remaining productive land in the country.’”
Ironic indeed. Misery ensues. Prayers needed.