In the letter "Land Must Be Returned" (September 11), the writer states that African peasantry was destroyed, and the land must therefore be returned. This is a profound example of cognitive dissonance. In rich countries, the peasantry has over the past few centuries given way to industrialisation. In the US, only 2% of the population lives on the land, yet the US is rich and powerful. SA can’t be a peasant culture and an industrialised culture at the same time. In SA — and unarguably through a violent process — the peasant way of life yielded to an industrial, urbanised culture. The land has, for the most part, been transformed into factories. Many farms – certainly the most productive – are essentially factories producing food and fibre in an industrial, highly technological way. Notwithstanding SA’s dry climate, its farmers are able to maintain a population hundreds of times greater than it was in the 17th century. SA is the only African country that is self-sufficient in food. I...
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