State gives white farmers strict deadline

August 12 2006 at 05:17PM

By Gershwin Wanneburg

Polokwane - South Africa has warned white farmers it may seize their properties under the land restitution programme if they fail to agree a selling price within six months.

The programme aims to hand back land to blacks who were forcibly removed from their ancestral homes under apartheid, or offer them financial compensation.

This is part of efforts to correct skewed land ownership created under white minority rule.

President Thabo Mbeki's government wants 30 percent of farmland in black hands by 2014 but the transfer process has been slow, with only around four percent of land transferred so far.

Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister Lulu Xingwana said wrangling with whites over price was one of the main reasons for the low turnover.


"We are now going to negotiate six months - no more, no less," she said at a briefing on Friday in the northern Limpopo province.

"Indeed, we don't have time to be talking and talking for 10 years ... because already our people have been waiting."

"At least now we have ... expropriation. Therefore we will no longer waste time negotiating with people who are not committed to transformation."

South Africa has been quick to dismiss comparisons with neighbouring Zimbabwe - where a similar campaign was frequently marked by violence - and vowed to take a more orderly approach to addressing its apartheid and British colonial legacy.

Xingwana's department has already identified several properties that will be taken over if it cannot reach agreement over price with the owners, but it is the first time the government has set a time limit on such talks.

Officials stressed this would only be used as a last resort and farmers have the right to appeal against the decision in court.

Land claims are an especially emotive part of the post-apartheid reforms as they often bring white families who have lived on the land for generations up against blacks whose historical ties to the land run even deeper.

So far, 89 percent of the nearly 80 000 claims that were lodged by the December 1998 cut-off date have been settled. The government has set a 2008 deadline to finish the process.

The poor SA's didn't worry about the end of aparthied, the new gun laws (confiscation), and now this. Anyone ever hear of the Boer war?

Terrible. Does this include all white owned farms or just the ones with a claim on them?

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quote:

Originally posted by ALF:

I accordance with the agreements once a claim proccess is intituted the farmer may not do any improvements to the property.

Not sure why they would want to.

This is the beginning of the end for SA. This process will be a miserable failure. When it fails, the Socialists will insist the failure was caused by insufficient expropriation. The end result will be an economic death spiral, like that of Zimbabwe.

I love the expression "negotiate for six months." How can you "negotiate" when the other party will seize your property if you want market value. Nice. Really nice.

The whole "negotiation" process is a fig leaf.

analog_peninsula

Not to worry, Just Africa returning to Africa. Tribal rule with the Big Man owning everything and poverty starvation,subservience fear and early death being the norm for the average African. Hunt while you can.

/

quote:

Originally posted by ALF:
The ramifcations and impact of this proccess is enormous. Ultimately it is hugely counter productive in that in stead of empowering the previously disantaged population it actually brings poverty to all.

Ya' think?

White farmers face October ultimatum
13/08/2006 13:06
By: Spencer Swartz


Johannesburg - South Africa will begin ordering the first expropriations of white-owned farms in October if farmers continue to reject government efforts to buy the property at market value and return it to blacks who were forced off the land decades ago, a senior government official said on Saturday.
"If these farmers continue to reject the offers, the expropriations will begin in October," National Land Claims Commissioner Tozi Gwanya told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview.

"This has been a very long negotiating process and taken far too long," said Gwanya, who has been President Thabo Mbeki's point person on land reform since 1999.

The South African government has been engaged in a decade-long effort to return property to blacks who lost it under years of racial discrimination and white colonial rule. It has promised to make more progress this year with those efforts, which have so far yielded meagre results.

The government is waiting on new market value estimates for 155 white-owned farms, including about 80 in the northeast of the country.

Hopeful of more farm deals

These farms, along with 200 others, were identified by the government this year as property it would take control of if negotiations were exhausted.

Agreements on land transfers have been reached the past few months with the 200 other white farm owners at a cost of R109m ($16m) to the government, Gwanya said, adding he was "hopeful" that deals could be reached with the other farmers.

Last-ditch negotiations will be held with the remaining farmers in coming weeks once the valuations are done.

If negotiations over the new market value estimates fail, the government would issue farmers with letters of notice of appropriation.

A farmer would then have 30 days to reconsider, and after that period, would be issued another letter informing them they will lose their land and be paid current market value for the property, Gwanya said.

Land grabs 'absolute nonsense'

The government's land reform effort began in 1994 when the African National Congress came to power in South Africa's first democratic elections.

The program, however, has angered many farmers and concerned investors about land seizures similar to those that have taken place in neighbouring Zimbabwe.

Since 2000, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has led a land reform program that has resulted in the often violent seizure of about 4 000 white-owned farms.

Gwanya rejected critics' suggestions that the government's possible expropriation of white-owned farms mirrored the process that's taken place in Zimbabwe.

"This is not a land grab. That would suggest we are not going to pay. That is absolute nonsense. We would pay and we would pay market prices," Gwanya said.

Difficult process

South Africa's land reform program has been protracted because of the government's desire to reach a financial deal with farmers and a 1913 law instituted under white colonial rule that banned blacks from owning property, he said.

As a result of the law, blacks who bought property after the law went into effect didn't receive title deeds, which have made certifying who actually owned the property more difficult.

Many white farmers have also claimed the land they have today was purchased by their forefathers before the law was enacted, Gwanya said.

"It's been a difficult process because of this," he said.

Since 1995, the government has spent some R2.5bn ($368m) on white-owned farms and transferred the property to blacks.

The government, however, has fallen well short of its target to put 30% of South Africa's farm land into black hands by 2014. Only 4% of the country's farm land is under black ownership.

Blacks comprise around 42 million of South Africa's population of 47 million.

It's DEJA VU.... all over again!

Rich Elliott

With the fantastic farmland and natural mineral resources at their disposal, South Africa and Zimbabwe should be among the richest countries in the world. Instead, Zim is shagged already and SA is fast on its heels.

I was at University in the late 80's when the international "concern" at apartheid was at its peak, and in northeast africa, people were starving in their millions. All the left wingers were concerned about was SA. We had a history professor who pointed out that no-one was starving in SA, but it would only be a matter of time....

Although not meant to be prejudiced, considering what is happening in Africa, I wonder about anyone calling themselves "African"-American?

Claret_Dabbler: I, too, wondered about the disconnect at the time, but public manias are rarely logical. Everyone wants to be an activist, but all too few want to learn the difference between right and wrong action. An old proverb "the road to Hell is paved with good intentions" is apropos.

Everyone wants to act; nobody wants to think and learn. The necessary consequences of 'activism' in Africa and South America should make anyone sick.

analog_peninsula

I saw this coming 5 years ago from reading the Pretoria sunday paper one day. I told my friends thay better be prpared but they dismissed it as "paranoid". "Never happen like Zim".
Well, It's here.
Same with the gun laws they were negotiating in 2002. Well, It's here.
HIV is their "slow leak" but it's a teerrible price for lack of foresight.
It can happen in the US too if the wrong party/people get control. The Supreme Court has already chipped away at property rights. Let the demographics of the Southwest change and they'll be in for similar claims dating back 250 years.

quote:

Originally posted by Dr. Duc:
It can happen in the US too if the wrong party/people get control.

Ya' think?

I spended a day with my wifes cousin,Ernie some years ago(my wife is from RSA)
Ernie being a very moderate South African, wasn`t very optimistic about the sitaution in his land..
It is very difficult for any white to get a job...the unemployment rate for whites is some 80%..
Ernie and his wife Tracy are now living in England as many south Africans do!
Ernie said: "the blacks are burning the schools one day and asking for education the day after...the burn the farmhouses of, and looking for jobs another day" Blacks in a nutshell...

I believe after hearing from my wifes family IN south africa, Zambia and malawi that being white is very unappriciated these days, what future does anyone has in africa?? We can`t all be the "The lone White hunter"living in a world of the bygone days. Its becomming more and more difficult to travel with firearms, that I`LL predict that within 10-15 years it is impossible to travel with any firearm anywhere. The only way to come to africa with a rifle is to hire a boat privately and sail down there....but how many can do that??. What income would the pro-hunter in africa have if nobody can travel with their firearm...unless he is borrowing the client a rifle?? It is my impression that the budget for wildlife management is substainciated by trophyhunting/safari camping etc.
I hope ofcouse that "things will solve", but the way the world are looking these days with terror I see no light at the end of the tunnel
just my two cents

"Only 4% of land in black hands" BS BS BS.

The Nationalist Government, architect of apartheid, expropriated millions of acres of land in the 70s and handed this over to the "homelands" (like Reservations in the USA)...and I don't see any whites being permitted to "claim" their farms back again. I think they created six or seven homelands, one for each tribe, eg Zululand for the Zulus, Transkei for the Xhosa etc. These are HUGE chunks of the country. I bet these homelands are not included in the 4% number. They can't possibly be.

"Our people have waited long enough"....WHOA there Mr. Minister, you respresent the ENTIRE "RAINBOW NATION", not just people that have black skin or share your mother tongue.

Expropriation with whose money? Guess who pays all the taxes in SA...the "white" sector for sure. So it works like this. You make a profit from your farm. You give some of this to govt. The govt give the last ten years of taxes you paid on the farm income back to you and takes your farm. No more taxes from that farm. What are they going to take next? And how is everyone going to eat in the morning?

This whole thing makes me want to puke. Farming and hunting are the two main sources of employment for non-professional whites, they have been purged from the military, police and state bureaucracies. They happen to be good farmers (otherwise they would go bust), so let them alone.

This is just vote-buying with a little plundering on the side. And it's no good for anyone...witness Zimbabwe.

Unfortunately the same crap is going down in Namibia.

Sorry if my emotions on this subject aren't clear.

WE have a converse issue, not really a problem..

WE are pestering the authorities to make the payment on our farm claim, they are the ones whom are slow and dragging the chain ...

Having been born and lived in Africa most all our lives we understand that things (red tape issues) can sometimes move more slowly than in the rest of the world ... BUT hey, the Sun is Shining, the Weather is warm, the Beer is cold, and the Wildlife is abundant

Essentially we have {NO MAJOR WORRIES} as we just (keep on hunting the claimed property) and life goes on. .

WE have already had 6+ hunts so far this season on the property both internationally and locally. We have two other ranches as well, one in SA and another in Zambia so we cant complain really

Cheers, Peter

I seriously believe many are way to pessimistic...but thats your perogative, just my opinion.

Firstly, many are working on getting land claimants to to use their land as protected areas (= potential hunting land) and I have been in contact with people who are working on this. SA (along with Aus) has been posting the the best tourism arrival increses in the world recently, and claimed land can be used in a CAMPIRE-esque way and looked after to spin benefit....

As a white, I definately don't feel unappreciated at all. If you are white with a shit attitiude, like everyone is out to get you, and its still 1983 then yes, no matter what your ethnicity or nationality, many will not appreciate you, anywhere.

I agree fully that this is a an issue worthy of concern, as is much of everyones politics and as South Africans we have some siginificant challenges to over come (show me who lives in utopia and la la land??). I too feel that AA and BEE is taken too far at times, but 80% unemployment for whites, never, I don't have a single friend or family member who has battled with employment in the last 10 years and they range from post-grad qualified to grade 12 qualified.
Business wise, family members who are self employed are just getting busier and busier and more successful (with hard work, like any business).

I think we must be careful and make our voices heard to govt. and yes, we must concern oursleves with issue issues, for sure, BUT to simply say " I told you so, its all over" is like having a crystal ball... yes, land will be claimed, and there will be stuff ups but to imply all out chaos, no.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I feel doom and gloom is not inherent to our future. Afrika!