COMMENT , by Pete Bower
GAUTENG
MAGAZINE
HOW TO MAKE YOUR PLOT PROFITABLE
Vol 18 No 4 April 2017 PUBLISHED BY Bowford Publications ( Pty ) Ltd Established 1985
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FRONT COVER
Chicks peep out from under their mother ’ s “ skirts ” ... there ’ s nothing better for a baby than maternal protection !
COMMENT , by Pete Bower
Kleptocratic land bill
While elderly and infirm South Africans have been distracted of late by the worrying prospect that they may not receive their social grant payments in April ( it now looks like they will ), or the politically-aware are fretting about how much the Zuptas have stolen from taxpayers this month ( probably lots ), or people with an international focus have been worrying about the consequences of Brexit ( probably none , for the rest of us ), the French banning the burkini on their beaches ( trust the French to latch on to an issue of TRULY international importance ), or whether men who have undergone sexchanges should be allowed to wee in female toilets , or whether North Korea ' s Kim Jong- Un will lose what remains of his adolescent marbles and blow us all to bits in a nuclear holocaust ( quite likely ), a little piece of proposed legislation named the Regulation of Agricultural Land Holdings Bill was published in the Government Gazette . South Africans have until April 17 to comment upon it and thereafter it will join other bills in its passage through Parliament and thereafter into law . Or , hopefully , not . For if it becomes law it has the potential to destroy South African agriculture more completely than farm murders , drought , the Fall Armyworm , dumped imports and low commodity prices combined . By now we all know that the ANC wants to speed up “ land reform ” particularly as its attempts to transfer white-owned land to black ownership thus far , based on the “ willing buyer , willing seller ” approac, h have been slower than desired. We also know now of Mr Zuma ' s hair-brained idea ~ and a complete departure from published ANC policy ~ of turning land reform on its head based on the results of a totally-unworkable non-starter that he calls a “ pre-colonial land audit ” ( just think about that , for a moment ) and , of course , of Julius Malema ' s oft-stated view that the way to land reform is through “ expropriation without compensation ”. Now , in this bill, are the seeds of these very policies . The first little stepping stones along the path to a wholesale revision of the land transformation policy that could see South Africa headed , ultimately, for a Zimbabwean-style land grab . For the bill contains a number of proposals . Key among them is that any foreign landowner wishing to sell his farm must first offer it to the Minister of Rural Development & Land Reform , who has 90 days to decide whether he wants to buy the property or not . Only thereafter may the foreigner offer the land on the open market . Practically-speaking , that ' s a helluva simple way for the government ( and therefore its corruptedly-connected cronies ) to acquire , for example , some of the best wine farms in the world . For many very , very expensive Western Cape farms are now in the hands of very wealthy foreign owners . When it comes time for them to shuffle off their mortal coils and the executors of their deceased estates offer the farms for sale ? Hey presto ! That ' s land-reform , Zuma-style ! The bill also contains the stipulation that no foreigner ( and also no local ) may own more than 12 000ha of agricultural land . Now a farm of 12 000ha in a productive region like the Western Cape or
Natal Midlands is a large farm , indeed . But 12 000ha of the Karoo ? Hell , you can have pet names for them all , so small is the flock of sheep you can sustain on a Karoo farm that size . The point that the government seems to be missing here is the effect this bill will have on potential foreign investment ~ something its economic ministerial cluster keeps bleating about at international symposia and the annual Davos shindig . A foreigner with money will only invest if he feels secure in two things . Will he make a good return on his money ? And can he , when he wants to , get his money out again ? Investment in South African agriculture is precarious enough as it is , given poor security , dry conditions and low commodity prices and the question whether any returns-driven foreigner would want to invest in anything other than a local wine farm is moot . Now , to add stipulations that will , effectively , mean that one cannot freely liquidate one ' s land assets , will simply mean that Africa-bound investors will look elsewhere on the continent for land , for example in Botswana , the Congo , Angola or Mozambique . Far more critically than discouraging people from investing in agriculture by passing this restrictive , disruptive bill into law , the government should concentrate its efforts on supporting farmers large and small , not by restrictions on the one hand and handouts on the other , but by putting in place policies and programmes that ensure and enhance family , regional and national food security . Entrenching your kleptocracy in this way , Mr Zuma , is not going to pave the road to the golden future for all , that you and your party espouse with your popularist speeches .
SAY YOU SAW IT IN THE GAUTENG SMALLHOLDER