Zimbabwe 2.0? Land confiscation will damage South Africa’s food production, says rights group

RAEL’S COMMENT:

Confiscation of land stolen from Black people by violent armed colonizers is not at all “expropriating”… it is taking back what was illegally stolen by colonizers and giving it back to its original owners. These stupid western journalists never talk about “expropriation” when a famous painting was stolen many years ago, seized from illegal owners, and given back to the real owners. And by the way, Justice is more important than the economy. And it’s better to have less food and be really independent than rich and enslaved. These “expropriations” should take place in every country where descendants of colonizers own scandalous wealth and huge lands while the original local people live in poverty.

The South African economy and the nation’s food production could collapse if the government seizes land from white farmers and redistributes it to black citizens, a local race relations organization has told RT.
The move, approved by the ruling African National Congress (ANC) earlier this year, is aimed at redistribution of wealth and “radical economic transformation.” The government is reportedly planning to put an end to what they call the legacy of apartheid, where nearly 95 percent of the South African wealth was kept in the hands of 10 percent of its white population.

Some organizations have claimed the initiative incites violence against white farmers. According to statistics from minority rights group AfriForum, 74 murders and 638 attacks primarily on white farmers had taken place in 2016-17.

The new plan also sparked international outrage, with Australia approving emergency visas for white South African farmers facing violent attacks. However, the farmers who are seeking refuge in Australia have been branded racist by some South African politicians.

Some analysts insist the ANC plan to redistribute land will jeopardize commercial farming in the region, with South Africa at risk of repeating the mistake made by another African country at the turn of the millennium. Zimbabwe’s food production dropped after the country’s government authorized the purge of white farmers in 1999-2000.

To look deeper into the issue, RT talked to experts at the South African Institute of Race Relations, TLU SA.

The expropriation of lands without compensation will hurt the nation’s economy, the organization said in an emailed statement.

“Banks have surety bonds on farms to the value of 180 billion rand. If the farms are expropriated without compensation the whole banking sector will collapse, And with that the economy,” the body’s spokesman told RT.

https://www.rt.com/business/431389-land-confiscation-zimbabwe-africa/