FARMING AND SOUTH AFRICA’S RURAL TOWNS

The government is currently working on a land reform Green Paper where the establishment of institutions to implement more reforms is outlined. The Green Paper contains a “future land reform policy” which will cover, inter alia, “setting the norms and standards for land pricing” and the regulation of “land ownership”. Government’s past efforts at redistribution were failures, and there is little reason to believe that this new blueprint will do much to further food security in South Africa.

It has been common cause in government circles for some time that South Africa really doesn’t need its smaller commercial farms because the large commercial entities can provide enough food for the country on their own. Any shortfalls can be imported. This opens up the smaller farms for redistribution.

The pitfalls of this thinking are well known – under the ANC, South Africa has down-graded from net food exporter to net food importer, and any further tinkering with an already fragile food production status quo is a gamble.

While the scenario of a few large commercial farms providing sufficient food for South Africa may look logical on paper, there are other more disquieting repercussions inherent in this scenario - already the figure of 60 000 commercial farmers ten years ago has been reduced to less than 40 000 today, and there is a demographic consequence of some magnitude on the cards if smaller farm disappear from the South African countryside.

Thousands of small rural towns in South Africa depend on the surrounding farms for their survival. We look at Marble Hall, a rural community 160 kilometers north east of Pretoria, in a fertile area of the Mpumalanga province. Driving from Pretoria on a hot summer’s day, the green fields of fruit trees, tobacco, vegetables and cotton stretch endlessly under the blue sky, while irrigation pivots spurt sprays of water across the crops. In summer, it is lush and organized – commercial farming at its very best. We also pass endless black townships – dusty roads, tin shacks, vegetables for sale on the baking roadsides, and cattle meandering to and fro seeking fodder. More significantly, thousands of unemployed people eke out an existence in these townships: a few dusty shops sell soap powder and other basics, but there is no industry, there are no hospitals, no schools, and no food production except the odd corn field scorched by the sun.

Marble Hall itself is like most South African country towns: there is an anchor supermarket, some clothing shops, the ubiquitous Wimpy restaurant, takeaway food shops, some medical rooms, and the chain store retail outlets one finds all over towns in South Africa. There is also a sector that serves the local farming community – fodder supply stores, spare parts outlets, repair shops, manufacturing enterprises. All of these enterprises employ black labour, as do the farmers in the area. Thousands of blacks spend their money in these towns. There is little evidence that the blacks themselves create the jobs which sustain the consumer needs of the thousands of locals who stream into town every day and who pack the shops every weekend.

POVERTY NODES

A recent SANRAL (SA National Roads Agency) survey on the Greater Sekhukhune District Municipal Node (which includes parts of Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces) highlighted the five municipal areas within the node. One of these is Marble Hall which includes five traditionally black areas which in 2000 were included in this municipal area. The study states that the town of Marble Hall “is surrounded by farms” whose main crops are wheat, citrus, vegetables, cotton, tobacco and grapes. No mention is made of any other significant industry. The area has been designated by the government as “within the framework of the rural development strategy” where there are “rural areas of extreme poverty, with a serious lack of skills and services”, says the SANRAL report. Greater Sekhukhune is 94% rural and 5,3% urban, and 48% of Marble Hall’s municipal population is under the age of 18. Already 57%% of the male population in the area have alternative residences away from the district for employment purposes.

Health services within the district are “under-staffed and do not have relevant facilities”, and some communities do not have any form of communication such as telephones. People walk long distances for services, while the roads are poor, with public transport sparse.

The Sekhukhune node has a high illiteracy level, with around 28% of the population having no formal schooling. Only 1% of the population has obtained a tertiary educational qualification. There are huge housing backlogs, some areas have no form of refuse removal, and there is no access to clean water. Almost 50% of the node’s population struggles with a water service that is below the basic RDP level. There is an overall lack of access to electricity, and “development activities” are not progressing as easy access is not achievable because of the state of the roads. “These areas are prone to the spread of cholera and other communicable diseases” says the report. There is also a high crime rate.

SUBSISTENCE

There is mining activity within the greater node, some construction and of course retail. Most farming is on a subsistence basis with only 30% of the district’s land utilized for commercial farming purposes. Irrigation is the key but it is expensive and can only be used by the commercial farming sector as government does not provide any assistance to small farmers in the area in this regard. What is really significant is that “three quarters of the Sekhukhune District Municipality is under land claim disputes that still need to be resolved”.

As can be deduced from the above, government is a non-player as far as uplifting these communities is concerned. So who contributes to the sustainability of these hundreds of thousands of rural people who mainly live in poverty? Who keeps them alive? Who gives the few fortunate ones who eat at the Wimpy and buy clothes from the chain stores the wherewithal to do so?

Almost 25% of the workforce in the Sekhukhune area is employed by the government, says SANRAL. Agriculture is shown as employing 16%, with private (white) households employing 11%. Manufacturing employs 5%. Over a third of households in the Mpumalanga sector, and 42% of those in the Limpopo sector of the node have no income at all.

If 25% of the people of the area’s income are paid by the state, what happens if the state is tardy, or is bankrupt? (Many suppliers to the state are paid late or not at all. Some have had to close down. In other instances, civil servants such as teachers and nurses are not paid for months.)

The Limpopo provincial government is now under central government administration. Officials are corrupt, incompetent and venal. Billions have been wasted or stolen. The state’s proposed bailout funds are collected from taxpayers – around 5,7 million individual taxpayers who pay a large share of the country’s taxation. It is a shaky piggy bank on which the people can depend. Public sector employment is growing four times faster than overall employment, to 13,1 million people at the end of 2011. One third of all government spending is on personnel, says the SA Institute of Race Relations. The government’s wage bill has grown 17% each year over the past five years. Yet the government doesn’t provide growth, so the people of Marble Hall stay poor, the roads stay dusty, the health services remain patchy and there is no service delivery. Corruption saps the government’s ability to uplift people.

Given that the mining industry will not expand ( in terms of attraction for mining investment, South Africa has slipped from 37^th out of 64 in 2006 to 67^th out of 79 countries and territories surveyed by the Canadian-based Fraser Institute in 2010), the greater Sekhukhune node will have to depend more and more on the commercial farming industry. It is clear that in Marble Hall, this farming sector is the only solid and reliable economic generator in the area. After 17 years, the ANC has done virtually nothing to improve the lives of their people except to place a large tax burden on a small minority to support their “job creation” travesty which it tries to sell to its people as “progress”. So who will sustain the local population and keep the towns alive except the commercial farmers?

These farmers carry these towns not only by way of economic activity but also via the provision of reasonably cheap and safe produce. Transport expenditure is kept to a minimum because of the farms’ proximity to the towns. Generally, large commercial agricultural holdings do not surround the towns of South Africa.

We are sitting with a disastrous regime in terms of its ability to govern: there is a complete disconnect between who they think they are and who they really are. Everyone is to blame except themselves, and even when the central government descended on Limpopo province to rescue it from bankruptcy, the provincial ANC said the situation was “not as bad as depicted”. They do not understand the difference between facts and depictions!

South Africa should cherish its small farmers, both black and white: they are a thin blue line against anarchy and hunger.

Agriculture disappointed with budget

During a time of international concern regarding food security and food prices, it is regretted that agriculture has been neglected in the budget and that agriculture simply disappears in the greater economic system while a different playing field is involved regarding agriculture.

TAU SA president, Mr. Louis Meintjes, said that agriculture enters the new financial year with a heavy heart. Farmers' land stay in controversy with the announcement that 4000 land claims will be finalized. "There is a danger of a rush against time to reach political goals.  Experience over the years has learned that many claims were proven not to be bona fide claims."

Farmers are facing some huge increases and which are of severe concern to them:

• The increase in the fuel levy by 28 cents per liter. Farmers' tractors, harvesters and other implements are never even seen on a public road, but they have to help with cross-subsidizing other non-agricultural related projects;
• The Gauteng tolling is coming in effect at the end of April. Taxis are exempted from the tolls but farmers will have to pay the full price in spite of the fact that they have to transport food and goods over long distances to the markets at great expenses. Although alternative routes will be restored, this will take a long time
• The increase of capital gains tax for companies to 66% can be disastrous. Most farms are structured in companies for economic reasons. If the pressure continues on farmers to sell their land in terms of land reform, they then have a tremendous amount of capital gains tax to pay. This will make it impossible for them to buy a new farm or business.

Very little of the R1, 9 billion that is allocated for the Department of Agriculture and the Land Bank will reach the commercial farmers and is likely to be given to emerging farmers.

Agriculture has thus essentially nothing to be excited from the budget.  There is the prospect of the refurbishment of the infrastructure. Unfortunately this will take a long time to finalize and in the mean time will cost much damage to farmers’ cars and tyres," said Mr Meintjes. “And off course there is always the doubt whether the right management processes will be followed, without any corruption, regarding the allocation of tenders so that funds will be utilized in the most productive way. "

Landbou teleurgesteld met begroting

In ’n tyd dat daar internasionale kommer is oor voedselsekerheid en voedselpryse, word dit betreur dat landbou afgeskeep word in die begroting en dat boere eenvoudig in die groot ekonomiese massa verdwyn terwyl ’n ander speelveld ter sprake is vir die landbou.

TLU SA se President, mnr. Louis Meintjes, sê dat landbou die nuwe finansiële jaar met ’n swaar hart binnegaan.  Die aanslag op die boere se grond gaan voort met die aankondiging dat 4 000 grondeise afgehandel gaan word. “Die gevaar bestaan dat teen tyd gehaas gaan word om politieke doelwitte te bereik terwyl die ervaring oor jare al geleer het dat baie eise nie bona fide eise was nie.”

Boere staar geweldige verhogings in die gesig, en van die verhogings wat boere tot kommer stem is:

• Die brandstofheffing se verhoging met 28 sent per liter. Boere se trekkers, stropers en ander implemente sien nooit eers ’n openbare pad nie, maar hulle moet kruissubsidiëring toepas vir ander nie-landbou verwante projekte;
• Die tolgelde wat einde April in werking tree. Taxi’s word vrygestel maar boere wat teen groot koste van ver af voedsel vir die markte moet voorsien, sal die volle pond in tolgeld moet betaal. Die alternatiewe roetes wat herstel gaan word, gaan helaas nog lank neem en is nie eens ’n troosprys nie;
• Die styging van kapitaalwinsbelasting vir maatskappye na 66% kan rampspoedig wees.  Meeste boerderye is om ekonomiese redes in maatskappye gestruktureer.  As die staat nou druk plaas in terme van grondhervorming op boere om hulle grond te verkoop, moet hulle dan nog ’n geweldige bedrag aan kapitaalwinsbelasting betaal wat dit onmoontlik maak om ’n nuwe bedryf aan te koop.

Van die R1,9 miljard wat vir Departement Landbou en die Landbank toegestaan is, gaan waarskynlik baie min by kommersiële boere uitkom en waarskynlik vir opkomende boere gegee word.

Landbou het dus in wese niks om opgewonde oor te wees nie, behalwe die vooruitsig dat infrastruktuur opgeknap gaan word, maar dit gaan helaas nog lank neem om te realiseer, en gaan boere intussen nog baie skade aan voertuie en bande kos,” sê mnr. Meintjes.  “Daarbenewens bestaan daar altyd die twyfel of die prosesse reg bestuur kan word, of tenders behoorlik toegeken gaan word sonder bedrog en korrupsie en dat fondse op die mees produktiewe wyse aangewend gaan word.”

Boere van SA doen aansoek om asiel

DIE oorweldigende meerderheid van wit mense in Suid-Afrika is steeds bevoorreg. Dit sal dus “moreel onverdedigbaar” wees om wit Suid-Afrikaners op grond van rassediskriminasie in hul tuisland asiel in Amerika te gee.

So sê die bekroonde Suid-Afrikaanse skrywer Mark Behr, wat tans in Amerika woon, oor ’n wit Afrikaner-familie wat asiel in Amerika soek.

Hy is deur die Amerikaanse prokureursfirma Thomason, Hendrix, Harvey, Johnson & Mitchell, PLLC, genader en gevra of hy kenners ken om bystand te lewer aan die familie wat asiel wil hê. Hulle is glo boere.

Luidens berigte sê die familie hulle sal slagoffers van rassisme wees as hulle na hul tuisland terugkeer.

Dié familie se aansoek om asiel het uiteenlopende reaksie ontlok.

Mnr. Henk van de Graaf, ’n adjunkhoofbestuurder van die landbou-organisasie TLU SA, sê die familie se aansoek is geregverdig in die lig van die baie plaasmoorde in Suid-Afrika.

Van de Graaf sê hy is genooi om sowat drie weke gelede ’n openbare vergadering van die Europese parlement oor plaasmoorde in Brussel by te woon.

Volgens die TLU het plaasmoorde in Suid-Afrika sedert 1990 altesaam 1557 mense se lewens geëis.

Van de Graaf sê selfs van dié Europese parlementslede beskou dié skokkende statistieke as volksmoord.

Prof. Leon Wessels, oud-menseregtekommissaris, stem glad nie saam met Van de Graaf nie.

“Hul aansoek sal nie slaag nie.”

Hy sê in Suid-Afrika is bewys ruimte bestaan vir die Afrikaner om in die politieke wêreld, asook die openbare en private sektore, te presteer.

“Daar is nie sprake van ’n dreigende volksmoord teen Afrikaners nie.”

Behr, skrywer van onder meer Die reuk van appels, is ’n professor aan die Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. Hy bied onder meer kursusse in fiktiewe skryfwerk en Afrika-literatuur aan.

Behr het onder meer op Zastron in die Vrystaat gewoon.

Hy het in ’n e-pos aan Volksblad verduidelik waarom die Afrikaner-familie nie asiel in Amerika behoort te kry nie.

Volgens Behr is die wêreldgeskiedenis belaai met voorbeelde van mense wat onderdruk is en later self onderdrukkers geword het.

Hy sê in Suid-Afrika het egter nog nie genoeg tyd verloop en ekonomiese mag aansienlik verskuif vir dit om eens op ’n amperse beduidende vlak te gebeur nie.

“As hulle (die familie wat asiel soek) enigsins slagoffers van rassisme is, is dit ongelukkig net ’n rassisme wat hulle self in hul eie verstand geskep het...

“Laat ek byvoeg, ek praat as ’n wit Afrikaner van ’n familie van boere; mense wat self hul plase in Afrika verloor het...”

Mnr. Rehim Babaoglu van die familie se prokureursfirma sê die verrigtinge is sensitief en hulle kan nie nou kommentaar lewer nie.

Hy wou ook nie die familie se identiteit bekend maak nie.

ANC exites emotions itself

President Jacob Zuma's warning to dr. Pieter Mulder's not to light emotions about land, is highly inappropriate.
    The ANC itself exciting emotions on land and property rights by its Green Paper on Land Reform, rumors of nationalization, threats of expropriation and Pres. Zuma's statement in his State of the Nation speech that the willing buyer, willing seller principle does not work.
    Furthermore, emotions are excited by a president who sings "Bring me my machine gun" and his party who want to have the song "Shoot the farmers" sung in public.
    "Mr. Zuma tries to make the protectors of private ownership to be the black sheep. We noted that in his State of the Nation Speech he mentioned that he wants in effect all land to be transferred to previously disadvantaged people in terms of the Constitution. The ANC cannot simply want to rewrite history and pretend that all land has previously been stolen. This can be historically proven to be a lie but government is doing its best to repeat this lie until it is ultimately believed by all people.  Land will remain an emotional issue as long as an unwilling government is not prepared to look at it from an economic perspective," said Mr. Bennie van Zyl, TAU SA's General Manager.

ANC jaag self emosies op

President Jacob Zuma se waarskuwing aan dr. Pieter Mulder om nie emosies rondom grond op te jaag nie, is uiters onvanpas.

 Die ANC jaag self die emosies oor grond en eiendomsreg op met ’n Groenskrif oor Grondhervorming, praatjies van nasionalisering, dreigemente van onteiening en pres. Zuma se verklaring dat die gewillige koper, gewillige verkoper beginsel nie werk nie.

 Verder word emosies opgejaag deur ’n president wat sing “Bring my masjiengeweer”, en sy party wat graag wil sien dat “Skiet die boere” in die openbaar gesing moet word.

 “Mnr. Zuma probeer duidelik nou die verdedigers van eiendomsreg die swartskape maak.  Ons het kennis geneem daarvan dat hy in sy Staatsrede gemeld het dat hy alle grond in terme van die Grondwet van eienaarskap na sogenaamd voorheen benadeeldes wil oordra.  Die ANC kan nie eenvoudig die geskiedenis wil herskryf en maak of alle grond voorheen gesteel is nie. Dit is histories nie reg nie maar hy probeer deur die punt te bereik dat as die leuen genoeg herhaal word, dit uiteindelik geglo sal word.  Grond sal ’n emosionele saak bly solank ekonomiese realiteite nie by ’n onwillige regering wil posvat nie,” sê mnr. Bennie van Zyl, TLU SA se Hoofbestuurder.