Threats: S.Africa headed for Zim-style Land Grabs

[I get considerably irritated by all this threatening talk by these Black jerks. People are so intimidated by these buggers.

My good friend, Dr Chris Jordaan from TAU is currently attending the National Land Summit, and I hope to get some information from him afterwards. He hinted to me today that it is shocking stuff.

It appears, from statements made, by among others, the new female Vice President of S.Africa that they want "fast track land reform" - a key phrase that Mugabe used for the last 5 chaotic years. One hears all these threats as the Blacks set the agenda.

As I have said since the last election - in the next 10 years - the Blacks have warned that "reform" and "transformation" is going to be speeded up. Translation: Whites are going to get their asses kicked much more seriously in the next 10 years than in the previous 10 years. Expect more Affirmative Action, more "Black Empowerment", and serious moves on so-called "Land Reform" to get the White farmers off the land.

This speech below by a Zimbabwean professor contains a lot of outright lies. The liar is now trying to rewrite history and trying to pretend (as per Mugabe's original lies) that Black people seized White farmland "due to desperation". This is what Mugabe wanted the world to believe. But the clear and undeniable evidence is that the Govt orchestrated the Land invasions just as it now orchestrates the smashing of houses - but pretends it is not involved.

This Zimbabwean professor is telling a lot of outright lies. The ANC no doubt will use this "intellectualism" as part of the rationale for turning the screws on us Whites.

Crunch time is coming. Jan]

If land reform does not happen fast enough, people will organise themselves and force redistribution to occur, a Zimbabwean professor said on Thursday.

"If the state does not move when it is challenged, it will be challenged," Professor Sam Moyo, of the African Institute for Agrarian Studies, told the national land summit in Johannesburg.

"The social process leads and the state must then try to contain and conduct [land reform] in the correct way," he said.

The South African government is facing mounting criticism over the pace of land reform, with some groups warning of Zimbabwean-style land grabs if reform is not speeded up.

Moyo said the government should adopt a structured, radical approach instead of a structured, conservative one for land reform to be productive.

People often think the Zimbabwean farm invasions were government-orchestrated because it wanted to win the elections. In fact, the invasions had social origins.

In 1975, Zimbabwe was selected as an experiment to resolve the settler issue through reconciliation.

This model failed and eventually Zimbabwe was in a position where its people wanted land but the government could not effectively deal with their needs, said Moyo.

This happened because of a lack of money, and the "state-centred, but market-based approach".

According to this model, the private sector decided what land should be sold through the market, and the central government was a reactive buyer to land on offer.

Moyo said the legal and policy framework and the market concept in Zimbabwe before the massive land grabs were very similar to South Africa at the moment.

The willing-buyer-willing-seller concept is the "opposite of development" because farmers decide what land to sell, when to sell it and what it should cost.

"If you want to develop people, it won't happen under this approach," Moyo said to applause from delegates.

He said the landless in Zimbabwe were initially given farms with poor soil, which did not help their development, leading to social tension.

There had always been a rural struggle for land in Zimbabwe. All the war veterans did in spearheading the mass invasions after 1999 was to coordinate the struggle.

"This is a phenomenon if you have a policy framework that doesn't work."

Moyo said the Zimbabwean government took about two-and-a-half-years to gain control over the land invasions.

The fact remains that extensive redistribution occurred, "unfortunately not according to the technocratic niceties".

Frans Tseehama, the Permanent Secretary for Land in Namibia, told the summit the willing-buyer-willing-seller principle has also failed in his country.

Since independence in 1990, only 145 farms, about 913 488ha, have been redistributed in Namibia. Only 1 538 households of a waiting list of about 240 000 have been resettled.

According to the Namibian Constitution, like in South Africa, land can be expropriated if necessary.

Tseehama said his government has decided to do so and the land of foreign absentee landlords will be the first to be expropriated. -- Sapa

Source: Daily Mail & Guardian

URL: http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articlei...