Land reform stalls when state refuses to sow seed
Pretoria is more interested in political capital than empowering black farmers, says agricultural lobbyist
Grain SA CEO Jannie de Villiers says he doesn't believe the government really wants to address the issue of land reform. If it did it would give black farmers the title deeds to their farms, which are mostly owned by the government. And by now it would have carried out a proper land audit. It has done neither. It prefers to use the issue as a political tool, he says. This is endangering the country's food security, and preventing black people from becoming successful commercial farmers. It suits the government to pretend that the agricultural sector is opposed to land reform, but this is not the case at all, he says. Grain SA, which the commercial farmers who feed the country belong to, accepts that land reform is absolutely necessary and desirable. "The first thing I would love to see is a negotiated settlement around land reform. But the government hasn't even bothered to do a proper land audit. So they're not serious about it. They just want to keep on hammering us about it. "If ...
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