This week, I undertook what has become an annual pilgrimage to Nampo Park in Bothaville to hang out with the people who ensure we have food to eat every day. When so many farmers are gathered in one place in the middle of a very cold Free State, the racial lines on which this industry was built smack you in the face. One cannot help but rethink the solutions. In his state of the nation address President Cyril Ramaphosa said expropriation would take place without harming economic development, productive agriculture and food security. Whether or not this was about striking a political or ideological balance, given the recent calls of faster land restitution, the president was unequivocal in linking land redistribution with the agricultural sector. Then, a few weeks ago, he expressed support for the creation of a state-owned bank. He seems to be driven by a need to break the monopoly of the big four commercial banks and to better drive economic transformation. Here he lost me. There ar...
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