{"id":325,"date":"2012-06-15T08:50:37","date_gmt":"2012-06-15T08:50:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tlu.co.za\/dev\/2012\/06\/15\/tau-sa-s-international-bulletin-june-2012\/"},"modified":"2012-06-15T08:50:37","modified_gmt":"2012-06-15T08:50:37","slug":"tau-sa-s-international-bulletin-june-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tlu.co.za\/en\/tau-sa-s-international-bulletin-june-2012\/","title":{"rendered":"TAU SA’s International Bulletin, June 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE NATIONAL DESTROYER\u2019S REVOLUTION (NDR)<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

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Fears from all sectors of the South African landscape which have bubbled below the surface over the ANC\u2019s latest attempts to virtually cripple SA\u2019s commercial farming sector came to a head during the recent convening of the Ad Hoc Committee for the Protection of Property Rights in Pretoria to discuss the government\u2019s latest Green Paper on Land Reform – the Draft Land Tenure Security Bill, 2011.<\/span><\/p>\n

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This Ad Hoc Committee meeting was not just another talk shop because it dealt with a South African fundamental \u2013 private property rights which are under renewed assault from the ANC. The violation of private property in South Africa affects everyone, and while commercial farmers have been beating off legislative assaults on their land sovereignty for some years now, it appears that parties from all sectors have now realized that nothing is inviolate where the ANC is concerned.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Talk of \u201clet\u2019s nationalize everything\u201d from National Union of Metalworkers of SA (NUMSA) general secretary Irvn Jim cannot be dismissed unequivocally. Indeed, what the ANC hotheads say is being prudently considered because the na\u00efve followers of this communist-style proletariat believe everything they hear, and these followers can vote. Millions of unemployed believe that \u201cthe land\u201d will be their salvation, and the Freedom Charter\u2019s dictum that \u201cthe land belongs to those who work it\u201d resonates. (The Freedom Charter was adopted by the ANC in 1955, with considerable communist input). Twenty years of broken promises mean nothing to the masses. After all, who else will promise them everything for free?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Although the ANC has already made socialistic inroads into the mining and other sectors via the legalized theft masquerading as Black Economic Empowerment, the government seems to reserve a special malevolence towards the country\u2019s white commercial farmers.<\/span><\/p>\n

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CONSTITUTION<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

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Section 25 of the Constitution \u2013 Property – is ambiguous. Warnings about this equivocacy were ignored when the Constitution was drawn up, but the chickens have come home to roost. There are plenty of \u201cifs\u201d and \u201cbuts\u201d in section 25, such as the fact that expropriation of property can be conducted \u201cfor a public purpose\u201d, or \u201csubject to compensation which must be \u2018just and equitable\u2019, reflecting a balance between the public interest and the interest of those affected\u201d. This ambiguity simply reflects the tenets of the Freedom Charter upon which ANC\u2019s National Democratic Revolution (NDR) is based. <\/span><\/p>\n

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It would be wrong to assume otherwise \u2013 the NDC is a long-term communist plan and, as some speakers at the Ad Hoc meeting stated, South Africa is now entering the NDR\u2019s second phase.<\/span><\/p>\n

TAU SA general manager Bennie van Zyl noted this, as did other speakers. Once the ANC took power, they made no secret of the fact that the NDR was alive and well but was only in its early stages. This was stated on television by the ANC\u2019s secretary general Gwede Mantashe a few days before the Ad Hoc Committee met. The Freedom Charter\u2019s provisions are now coming to fruition and the fact that the Charter\u2019s communist-style policies failed so spectacularly in Eastern Europe and in more than a few African countries after independence is ignored when ANC ideology trumps practical considerations.<\/span><\/p>\n

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BILL<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

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Inter alia, the Green Paper\u2019s Bill provides for more rights within the already-existing \u201clong term security of tenure\u201d legislation for blacks residing on white commercial farms, including the provision of \u201calternative land\u201d for an evictee. The Bill applies to \u201call agricultural land except land occupied by traditional communities\u201d. Arbitrary evictions are prohibited, and the rights of persons residing on farms are numerous, from the right to own livestock and to \u201cnot be unreasonably restricted\u2019 within this right, to the right to graze that livestock, the right to crop, the right to use pathways throughout the farm, to have visitors, to bury members of the family on the farm, to have access to ancestral land on the farm, the right to \u201cpractice culture\u201d, the right to clean water and electricity, to farm commercially, the right to education for the worker\u2019s family, and so forth. All of these rights are on someone else\u2019s private property! <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

If a worker has worked for more than ten years for a farmer, he can stay on the farm to the end of his days, even after retiring. After his death, his family has at least 12 months to find another dwelling.<\/span><\/p>\n

The eviction procedure is onerous: eight pages of the Bill detail limitations on the eviction process which should make any farmer seriously reflect about hiring new labour!   There can be no eviction until \u201cadequate procedural and legal safeguards\u201d for the worker have been complied with. There is another page replete with rights for the proposed evictee, including even the provision of legal aid to the evictee in order that he may seek redress in the courts! Evictees cannot be rendered \u201chomeless\u201d by an eviction, so the farmer has to ensure that the worker and his family have another place to live. <\/span><\/p>\n

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EXPROPRIATION<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

The Bill says that the government may acquire either with the agreement of the farmer or through the Expropriation Act (No. 63 of 1975) a \u201ctemporary right\u201d to use a piece of the farmer\u2019s land for resettlement purposes. A Land Rights Management Board is created by this Bill so that this Board can acquire and regulate the management of land for resettlement. This Board is controlled by the government, while a Land Claims Court (also government controlled) will now have precedence over a magistrate\u2019s court ruling with regard to land disputes.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

ALICE<\/span><\/b> IN WONDERLAND!<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

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Another proposed Bill from the Department of Trade and Industry – the Codes of Good Practice on Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment in the Agricultural Sector (Notice 251 of 2012) – is something out of Alice in Wonderland! This proposal is ostensibly \u201cto ensure increased access and equitable participation in the Agri Sector (for blacks). The Bill includes complicated score cards and points systems and targets, and consists of 58 pages of the most ludicrous demands and consultant-speak directives for farmers who would need to hire a full-time expert just to translate the spin into language that makes sense (if sense is the correct word!).<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

One of the objectives is to \u201cunlock the full entrepreneurial skills and potential of black people in the agricultural sector\u201d. (Critics will say that blacks have been in Africa for millennia, but developed nothing in the way of commercial agriculture, nor were they entrepreneurial enough to create anything resembling a functioning, developed society, as is South Africa today.) <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Land ownership is to be \u201cre-managed\u201d and the objective of the proposed Bill is to \u201cincrease the participation and levels of control of black people and black women at board and executive management levels in the Agri-industry.\u201d The Agri-industry, including farming, must promote blacks to \u201cexecutive management positions\u201d. (Many farmers run their farms on their own. They do not have boards, meetings, conferences and \u201cexecutive managers\u201d.)<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

The Agri-industry is asked to identify gaps in training needs, to dedicate resources to provide for training and internships, and to create training infrastructure for \u201centrepreneurs, farm managers and farm labourers\u201d. (A real entrepreneur doesn\u2019t have everything provided for him. He is not an entrepreneur if this happens!). Farmers must institute a mentoring programme and develop the skills of black employees and farmers are expected to \u201ctarget black unemployed and underemployed graduates in all disciplines\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Agri-industry must procure from \u201cpreferential\u201d suppliers, for which points will be granted. (Whether the supplier is competent and honest is not guaranteed!)<\/span><\/p>\n

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The farmer is responsible for \u201centerprise development\u201d, defined as the \u201cestablishment, support and integration of black entrepreneurs in the farming business\u2019s mainstream processes. Support services such as access to finance, infrastructure, information and knowledge systems, are core pillars of sustainable empowerment initiatives\u201d. Mentoring must be provided for blacks to access \u201cinputs, credit, markets, technology and extension services\u201d, inter alia. Agricultural land must be leased to \u201cblack entrepreneurs\u201d to gain points under the Bill.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Farming enterprises are asked to undertake to \u201ccontribute to the socio-economic development initiatives such as the provision of good quality housing, access to clean water, sanitation and electricity, and the PROVISION OF RECREATIAONAL FACILITIES (emphasis ours!). Also demanded is the provision of health care programmes and related services, with special emphasis on HIV\/Aids. Transport must be provided for workers and their dependants, such as to clinics and hospitals, and the transport of workers\u2019 products to markets must be provided by the farmer.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

The implementation of retirement, funeral and related schemes must also be provided by the farmer, plus investment must be made in rural schools to cover the education of workers\u2019 children. The increase of literacy is also the farmers\u2019 responsibility, and bursary schemes must be provided to \u201cenable black people to gain access to tertiary education\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Agribusiness \u2013 as opposed to farmers \u2013 must support community education facilities, and provide scholarships and bursaries to encourage learners to study agriculture: they must provide development programmes for youth, support conservation projects in \u201cthe community\u201d, promote job creation programmes \u201cexternal to the business\u201d, support the development of new talent for arts and culture, and participate and support sports development programmes.<\/span><\/p>\n

A long and detailed scorecard is attached to the above General Notice 251 of 2012, and one would need actuarial help to work through it.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

We have pinpointed specific clauses in these proposed Bills because few citizens have the time (or the inclination!) to read the ANC\u2019s convoluted and potentially calamitous legislation. These Bills in effect demand that South African farmers and agribusiness take over the responsibilities of government! Agriculture is being tasked with virtual \u201cwomb to tomb\u201d support for blacks on farms and in agribusiness! This is pure socialism, but instead of government providing the services, the farmer and agribusiness are now being told to do so!<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It is up to South Africans who believe in the sanctity of private property to fight these Bills with everything at their disposal!<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

For details of presentations made at the Ad Hoc Committee, visit<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/a>http:\/\/www.afriforum.co.za\/referate-gehou-by-die-ad-hoc-groep-vir-die-beskerming-van-eiendomsregte-se-konferensie-oor-grondhervorming-31-mei-2012<\/a><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE NATIONAL DESTROYER\u2019S REVOLUTION (NDR)   Fears from all sectors of the South African landscape which have bubbled below the surface over the ANC\u2019s latest attempts to virtually cripple SA\u2019s commercial farming sector came to a head during the recent convening of the Ad Hoc Committee for the Protection of Property Rights in Pretoria to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-english"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t