Here we go again!

Voting time is drawing nigh in South Africa.

The Old Bucket is opened (yet again) to win votes, and what is the number ONE topic?

“Land Distribution”, an euphemism for theft in my opinion. Strong words it may seem. An “entitled” white versus the poor black masses.

Make no mistake, these crimes against many, many people were committed by various white governments in the past against black people. So how can I say what I do?

Let’s be frank, these sorts of crimes have always been committed throughout history.

“Might is Right”

A couple of examples to consider.

The worst one to me was the plight of the Red Indian in the shameful past conduct of the United States Government. Treaties were continually broken and the lands of the native Americans reduced to virtually nothing.

The most complex one must be in the Middle East with Israel. There seems to be zero possibility of compromise between the feuding parties. Each group of the antagonists have their own historical version. In my opinion, there can be no compromise as both parties lay claim to the exact same piece of ground as being a holy site. The Jews and Christians generally follow the account in the Bible, Abraham was promised land in the region of Palestine. Look at Genesis chapter 15: verses 13 to 16.
13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.
16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

An interesting passage where God tells Abraham that his seed will inherit the land but not yet as the Amorites were not sufficiently wicked to merit being kicked off the land under consideration. Yet Abraham’s other son, Ishmael was also blessed to become a notable nation in the same region.

So the Jews gained the land under Joshua, were kicked off several times as their disobedience resulted in God’s punishment and finally after the death of Christ, have been booted off for several millennia. Now they are back, much to the annoyance of the Arabs, and there is much drama in the region, to put it mildly.

Land expropriation was not only committed against the blacks, but against coloured people too, and even against white people. I know there are many in the coloured community who are extremely bitter at their treatment from the previous government; homes that had been owned for centuries, let alone decades were expropriated.

(the vision of Cecil John Rhodes)

What a poisonous set of terms: redistribution, expropriation, nationalisation, and land reform.

A white colleague of mine, decades ago his family had their family farm confiscated as “tobacco was a national resource”. They were given land in hilly rocky terrain that was in no way comparable. This pattern was also followed in the time that “homelands” were fashioned by the National Party in the 1970’s. Prosperous white owned farms were handed over to the new “governments” of various homelands such as the Ciskei, Transkei, Bophuthatswana, KwaZulu and so on. Most, if not all, of these farms fell into ruin as the black farmers took them over. All the whites nodded their heads as this confirmed their prejudices that blacks could never run successful farms. The glaring fault in this observation is that the black farmers were unskilled in running the advanced mechanised machinery on these farms. Also I presume that banks also did not advance loans to these black farmers. Too often this pattern has been seen in Southern Africa.

The most glaring example was in Zimbabwe. Just like in South Africa, the majority of land was given to white farmers several centuries ago. They did pay for the land but I presume it was at a nominal fee. The burning resentment of the Shona tribe was avenged when Mugabe took power in African style voting while Britain “closed” their eyes and ignored the appalling violent intimidation at the polls. Eventually white farm lands were seized for the disenfranchised. However, this precipitated a disaster that was unforeseen in its magnitude. The white farmers were unable to pay the banks back for the large loans they had. This eventually caused the Zimbabwean banks to collapse as they were unable to secure added loans from overseas banking institutions. Industries linked to the agricultural sector also collapsed and unemployment skyrocketed. One of the most profitable agricultural countries in Africa collapsed into famine. But Mugabe and his cronies all continued to plunder the country for personal gain throughout his reign. Yet his rhetoric against the West made him a hero in South Africa among the poorer classes. The irony is that millions of Zimbabweans pour across the borders into South Africa seeking employment. They are preferred to their South African counterparts as the Zimbabweans are prepared to work for a lower wage and they also are vulnerable to exploitation by their employers. Sporadic outbursts of xenophobia target the non-South Africans as the poor are frustrated and blame the Zimbabweans for stealing their jobs.

(EFF opposition to President Zuma and the Gupta Family)

We have just lost our President Zuma, who had followed the pattern of Mugabe in enriching himself by using his political office. We also had the Gupta family who used their friendship with President Zuma to extract billions of Rands by using inappropriate methods. We now have a new president, Cyril Ramaphosa. The government is being put under considerable pressure by the EFF leader, Julius Malema, where the issue of land redistribution is again being raised. Quite validly, the point is being raised that the ANC government has been put into power to look after their voters. I always like to look at the past of various political characters in this country. The memory of the South African public is very short term. Mr Malema was the leader of the ANC Youth League (even though he was in his mid-thirties). He was immensely popular due to his rhetoric. He was the greatest supporter of Jacob Zuma and helped Zuma oust President Thabo Mbeki. Julius was famously quoted for saying he will support Jacob Zuma to the death. Julius got lots of tenders from the government (as they all do, either directly or indirectly). Julius was building a R20 million house in the elite suburb of Sandton in Johannesburg when his rhetoric against Botswana and veiled threats against various ANC leaders got him into trouble. Suddenly the South African Receiver of Revenue was investigating his many tax irregularities. He was suspended and eventually expelled from the ANC. Now he is the leader of the EFF party. He promotes himself as the champion of the poor and there are many who desperately cling to his rhetoric as they hope for a better future. He became an implacable enemy of President Zuma.

President Ramaphosa is no fool, he is an intelligent man, so he will have to balance the desires of the black poor with the fears of the whites. Not an enviable job at all. The biggest problem faced with land distribution was that when the ANC came into power in 1994, various agreements were signed by the ANC confirming existing land ownership. He well knows that commercial farming cannot be maintained without financial capital. There can be no international investment unless property rights are secure.

Is it going to be another campaign of election promises that will be made without fulfilment? Will they be forgotten again as the smoke and mirrors are packed away for another political term in office? How can the jittery banking sector’s fears be soothed? This is a ticking time bomb that could lead to civil war in a worst case scenario, according to Clem Sunter. But land ownership is terribly skewed towards whites. Something has to be done as pressure is building in this pressure cooker of a country.

What are we going to do?