These words are not bandied about loosely in Levubu. An officially-sanctioned invasion of private property occurred recently in the area. Ostensibly looking for ancestral graves, a group of 50 blacks arrived at a farm, with state officials in tow. Proof of graves somehow gives credence to the fact that certain land is œancestral, although Fritz Ahrens, head of the Louis Trichardt Farmers™ Union (affiliated to TAU SA) says many land claims in the area are not valid.

His logic in handling this œancestral claim conundrum is excellent. Why not grant blacks title deeds to their own plots in their own areas? he asks. œThere are farms lying in Venda with irrigation piping where you just need to open the tap and start planting, he declares. (Farmer™s Weekly 11.2.05). œVenda has some of the best land in the area. Why don™t they turn it into a commercial success and then acquire more land from the state on the open market?

Why indeed! This is the question on everyone™s lips, but the answer is depressing. African agriculture, if it can be called that, is subsistence, and has been since time immemorial. White commercial farming changed the face of South Africa, and the country is the only food-exporting nation on the African continent. Instead of leaving those who farm successfully alone, a malicious low-intensity war is gradually sapping the nerve of many South African farmers. The pressures of high input costs, more and more taxes, land claims, intimidation, murder and robberies and wildly volatile market prices are simply not worth the effort, and some farmers want to give up the ghost..

State-sponsored land invasions were the last resort of the Zimbabwe dictator Robert Mugabe. His country is in tatters, and the same tactic is now taking place in South Africa. Private property as a right is now sullied. Nervousness and a sense of insecurity has set in among farmers.

Those who believe the SA government will think land redistribution through logically are making a mistake. Throughout Africa, logic in the Western sense does not exist. Even today, with many starving, Zimbabweans line the routes of Robert Mugabe™s motorcade to cheer on this œstrong leader who, truth be told, is admired, even in South Africa, for forcing white farmers out of his country.

When the Zimbabwean premier addresses audiences in South Africa, he is roundly acclaimed with standing ovations. His current pre-election ticket is based on denigrating the British premier and œcolonialism. He is tapping into a deep lode of anti-white resentment which permeates much of the African continent.

Who will feed the South African population if the country™s commercial farming sector is debilitated or eventually destroyed, ask Western observers. A sensible question, but not one obviously being asked by the SA government as it charges ahead with its agricultural land redistribution programme, which has failed abysmally so far.

Levubu farmer Bill Oldreive is armed with a court order to prevent further incursions on to his farm, after his gate was bulldozed to make way for a path through his property which, according to Oldrieve, would turn into a highway. How long before the courts will become œtransformed to suit a political agenda. To whom then can farmers turn?

One agricultural editor talks of œreason over political expediency. But œreason is culturally bound. This is evident right throughout Africa. The UN™s General Romeo Dalliare watched the Rwanda genocide unfold, and the world did nothing, he says in his latest book. He now questions the world™s apparent indifference to Sudan™s Darfur genocide crisis.

Nobody will help the South African government if it continues down the path of destroying this country™s commercial agricultural sector. The world is sick and tired of Africa. It is now being left to its own devices.

British author Roger Sandall talks of one of Sudan™s opposition members pleading on a BBC program some months ago for œthe international community to become involved in saving Africa.

Africa is always on the defensive, says Sandall. They invariably use the œlegacy of colonialism to intimidate Africa™s critics into a state of guilty fear “ and then œthe international community is asked to come and sort Africa out.

In South Africa it is the œlegacy of apartheid which is blamed for the slow disintegration of what used to be a functioning country. Will South Africa™s farmers allow their 350 years of hard work to be destroyed by the suicidal policies of politicians who do not “ will not “ think of tomorrow?

It would seem that only the farmers can salvage this situation by virtue of the power inherent in their ability to provide the food which feeds South Africa™s burgeoning population. Only by standing together and confronting this catastrophe head on will agriculture be saved in South Africa.

Source:
SOUTH AFRICA BULLETIN
from the headquarters of the
TAU SA

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