WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2005-06-21 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Jan
[This does not surprise me. In S.Africa the Govt is now buying up the biggest and most expensive farms imaginable and handing them over to Black people to try to run them. Just the other day, a single farm worth R24 million was handed over in Komatipoort. These farms also end up failing. Many such farms have already failed completely and ended up being bankrupt. There is just no substitute for skills. So-called “Land Reform” is a huge failure – but they just keep on pumping money into it. In the next 10 years, S.Africa and Namibia will probably start experiencing problems with food supply. Its coming…
There are two particular points I wish to make:-
Firstly: Take special note of this sentence: “Stier said there were hardly any farms on Agribank”s books that were operating at full capacity.”
This Bank official is noting that almost none of the Affirmative Action farms are achieving the levels of production they should be achieving.
Secondly, take special note of this talk of farms being “over-valued” and “you don”t farm with infrastructure”. What a load of hogwash that is about “you don”t farm with infrastructure!” What does this person need? A kick in the head? By this they mean barns, irrigation, etc. What a bald-faced lie that is! Note too, the Govt will only guarantee 10-20% of a farm”s value.
Now… as I have said for many years, the farmers will be progressively CHEATED – the White Farmers will get less and less money as time goes by because the Blacks will start changing the rules. You can see this happening in Namibia, and it is also now starting in S.Africa with them forcing farmers to sell for less and less. Now that the Black farmers aren”t producing… now suddenly they”re claiming the farms were over-valued to begin with. Junk. They are trying to hide the full extent of their failures.
So-Called “Land Reform” is a huge flop – but these Black Governments are determined to get these farms out of the hands of White people at all costs. Jan]
FINANCE Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila says she is concerned by the number of farms being repossessed because of the effect it is having on land reform.
Meeting with the management of Agribank in Windhoek yesterday, Kuugongelwa-Amadhila said she hoped that new reforms for the buying and selling of farms, as well as a new business strategy to be implemented by the bank, would make the Affirmative Action Loan Scheme more sustainable.
“Information on farm repossessions is worrisome to Government because of the impact on land reform and the bank.
Agribank should seriously review the loans and put monitoring mechanisms in place to ensure we reduce the defaults,” she said.
The Minister said this situation could indicate that farms had been over-valued and that it was necessary to closely monitor the performance of loan beneficiaries.
“But we also want farmers to take on the new responsibility very seriously.
We want them to be assisted and advised before taking on these liabilities,” she said, noting that beneficiaries were quick to blame others for their failure to farm sustainably to repay their debts.
Kuugongelwa-Amadhila said the bank needed to investigate the reasons for the inability to repay loans and consider the possibility of rehabilitating the loans to avoid repossessions.
Although the bank would not provide figures on how much it was owed in default payments, Board Chairman Hans-Guenther Stier said the bank had not yet reached the stage where it was forced to repossess many farms, as most of the loans were only due for repayment now.
The bulk of Agribank”s Affirmative Action loans were only granted in the last two to three years, and beneficiaries were given a three-year grace period before they are expected to make repayments.
But because the bank had advanced loans for more than the agricultural value and the production capacity, the warning bells are signalling that many of the beneficiaries will be unable to pay the N$300 000 to N$400 000 a year many of them will owe the bank.
Stier said there were hardly any farms on Agribank”s books that were operating at full capacity.
Agribank CEO Leonard Ipumbu was quick to point out that the bank did not want to repossess farms as a first course of action against defaulters.
“Our object is not to repossess.
Ours is to give money and to help farmers to reach full production,” he said.
Ipumbu pledged to assist farmers with training to ensure they were able to produce maximum outputs.
“HOT POTATO”
Regarding the new AALS reforms to be implemented by the bank, Stier said it would still take into consideration the value of infrastructure on the farm, but not what it cost to put it there.
“This thing about farm infrastructure has always been a hot potato.
We will be looking at the affordability and sustainability of farms in the future.
Christmas is over.
We won”t be giving loans in excess of what the farm can produce,” he said.
Stier said buying farms with good infrastructure did not automatically mean that the farmer would be more successful than one on a farm with lesser infrastructure.
“You don”t farm with infrastructure.
Infrastructure will still be taken into consideration, but not to the extent that it was in the past,” he said.
When the Finance Minister lifted the moratorium on Government guarantees for the AALS on Friday, she said Agribank would no longer be allowed to offer financing for a farm for which the asking price was higher than the agricultural value of the land as determined jointly by the Lands Ministry and Agribank.
The moratorium had been in place since November.
NEW FORMULA
The Government has now also scrapped its standard 35 per cent guarantee, and instead will fund the shortfall between what the bank is prepared to advance and the down payment made by the borrower.
According to the new formula, the Government guarantee is expected to be between 10 and 20 per cent of the farm value.
The Lands Ministry will also no longer give waivers to commercial farmers to sell their land for a price higher than its value as determined by Agribank, if there is an affirmative action buyer who is willing to buy it at this price.
In the past, Government”s 35 per cent guarantee was erroneously added to the amount the bank was prepared to lend, leading to sellers inflating the price of their farms and buyers unable to repay loans because the farm was not capable of producing commensurate to what they had paid for it.
In response to concerns raised by parliamentarians on Friday that farmers would deliberately withhold selling their land in the wake of these new developments, Kuugongelwa-Amad(173)hila said Government would always have the option of expropriation in accordance with the Constitution.
Yesterday, she said Government relied on Agribank to ensure the success of the agricultural sector.
She announced that plans were in the pipeline to amend the Agricultural Act to allow the bank to offer financing to other sectors such as aquaculture.
Kuugongelwa-Amad(173)hila said she hoped this would happen before year-end.
She also requested the bank to consider funding resettlement farmers to boost their productivity.
The Minister said their land tenure rights could stand as guarantee for financing for farming projects.
She encouraged the bank to find new sources to consolidate its capital base and improve the recovery of loans.
Source: AllAfrica.Com
URL: http://allafrica.com/stories/200506210008.htm…/p>