South Africa P.I.G.: AGRICULTURE

Showing posts with label AGRICULTURE. Show all posts

SA's white farmers Trek to Eastern Europe

The number of commercial farmers in South Africa have plummeted from a high of 85,000 in 1994 to 11,600 today. The numbers become even more of a shock given the number was approximately 13,500 a few months back. <img alt="" border="0" height="451" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5533613846018341698" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE662eLubXbGeiYj4BQLdhgJZmb3w83CBoG1-xqS45BjgtmV8PsLgVnRTRLAW5wi1H9diBaukqsYjpQqayhSvP3rQfgI0UcObiKuDAH6avx-qmYIUIi5btmBfZBz9ZxILWiM3GgFrpQv1t/s640/KillingFields_2_400.png" style="display: block; height: 282px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" width="640" />The mostly White, Afrikaaner-Boer farmers find themselves increasingly marginalized in a society that views them as “land barons”, a government that looks to expropriate their land, and “war like conditions” which include a corrupt police force. “The increase in armed attacks, robbery and theft of farm products and implements holds serious financial implications for agriculture in our country. This high crime rate is experienced by the industry as economic sabotage,” said Agri-SA. In addition to the loss of commercial farmers, more than 1 million black African farm workers have become unemployed and have had to move their families to squatter camps. In total, approximately 5 million people have been displaced. Now the last of SA's white farmers are about to depart for greener pastures in Georgia, Eastern Europe. Watch Georgia go from strength to strength as South Africa sinks into poverty and starvation. <div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"> <a href="http://cofcc.org/2010/10/exodus-of-thousands-of-white-south-african-farmers-could-be-near/">Plans for the resettlement of white farmers of South Africa to Georgia</a> </div> "Most would like to stay but they were being chased by crime, corruption, water pollution and an unfriendly government," deputy secretary Bennie Van Zyl said, adding that "no government department at this stage was not a threat to the farmer." "This is a great opportunity for farmers, because the government in Georgia knows that, without commercial farmers, the country can't go forward... commercial farmers are (a country's) biggest asset. It's a pity our government doesn't have this approach." Georgia needs expertise as it wants to uplift its agricultural sector which was destroyed by socialism and communism about 70 years ago.

SA's white farmers Trek to Eastern Europe

The number of commercial farmers in South Africa have plummeted from a high of 85,000 in 1994 to 11,600 today. The numbers become even more ...

5:07 PM

Warning bells for South Africa

Earlier this week SAIRR's new Unit for Risk Analysis described the proposed nationalisation of agricultural land in South Africa as a potentially cataclysmic event for South Africa’s economy. <a href="http://www.sairr.org.za/press-office/press-releases/press-statement-unit-for-risk-analysis-warns-on-land-reform-proposal-15th-march-2010">See Press Statement: Unit for Risk Analysis warns on land reform proposal - 15th March 2010</a> <div style="BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0SXV96xsPv3fceVHhyPtg9DFMHViGXTQ9zmqgGof5Wym-u5nOZpqYz2bv0FqFLFI4Mm-PiUJAy0KIl-fw3M18vM3yClNnOXrHI-ZF7NoBLTn3ea469wYi9FLTbeIaRpDM_4Hyx94GRVQy/s1600/ANC_LANDGRABS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 1em; FLOAT: left; CLEAR: left; MARGIN-RIGHT: 1em; cssfloat: left"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0SXV96xsPv3fceVHhyPtg9DFMHViGXTQ9zmqgGof5Wym-u5nOZpqYz2bv0FqFLFI4Mm-PiUJAy0KIl-fw3M18vM3yClNnOXrHI-ZF7NoBLTn3ea469wYi9FLTbeIaRpDM_4Hyx94GRVQy/s320/ANC_LANDGRABS.jpg" wt="true" /></a>The Government has subsequently denied any intention to nationalise private property. We have reason to doubt their assurances and warn again that the nationalisation of agricultural land is now a published government proposal, that it follows a trend that saw the nationalisation of both mineral and water rights, and that it follows previous efforts to introduce far reaching expropriation legislation. The likelihood of the Government adopting this policy proposal is therefore something that South Africa’s domestic and foreign investors should be very aware of. The Government and the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform have responded to our warnings by saying that there is no plan to nationalise South Africa’s farms. The Government has further stated that it respects private property rights and that this will not change. We have little confidence in these assurances and believe them to be an effort to mislead the public and the media. In part, this is because the Government’s assurances are so obviously contrary to their own written and published plan. While various government officials in the last 48 hours have said that the plan does not talk about “nationalisation”, it does talk about private owners ceding control of their land to the State which will then lease that land back to the farmers. The Government’s proposal also identifies the need to alter Section 25 of the Constitution which deals with and guarantees private property rights. A second reason to doubt the Government’s assurances is that this latest policy proposal appears to follow an established trend of the State seizing control of what it regards as important ‘national assets.’ In 2002 through the Minerals and Petroleum Development Act, the Government took custodianship of all mineral rights in the country thereby ending private ownership. Mining companies had to re-apply for those rights in order to continue mining. This legislative step did significant harm to the mining industry in the country and to investor sentiment, particularly in the mining sector. Similarly, the Government took control of all water resources in the country through the National Water Act of 1998. The previous distinction between public and privately owned water was eliminated, making all water a ‘public asset.’ Water allowances were imposed and the Government handed itself the authority of managing the country’s water resources. What we are now seeing in terms of the Government’s proposed land seizure scheme is therefore a logical progression of government policy that has sought to bring under state control what it regards as important ‘national assets’. The third reason to doubt the Government’s sincerity is that this latest proposal appears to be a continuation of a pattern of thinking that gave rise to the Expropriation Bill of 2008. The Institute published extensively on the bill, which would have given the State the authority to seize any fixed or movable property ‘in the national interest’ without paying compensation. Ahead of the 2009 elections the Government declared that the controversial Bill would be shelved. The Government has recently admitted that 9 out of every ten land reform projects that it has managed have failed. Under these circumstances it is unlikely that this same Government will be able to successfully manage South Africa’s entire commercial farming industry. This is particularly so if they erode the capital value in agricultural land, which is important collateral that farmers have against which to raise loans to run their businesses. We are therefore of the view that if either of the two proposals goes ahead then South Africa will experience a steep reduction in agricultural investment. This will translate into a commensurate fall in agricultural employment which will in turn drive up levels of rural poverty and provide an impetus for greater rural to urban migration. Further we expect that South Africa’s ability to meet its food needs will be undermined. This will see knock-on effects on downstream food processing industries with corresponding falls in employment and investment. Upstream supply industries will see their markets shrink as demand for their products falls. South Africa will be forced to import a greater portion of its food needs, placing pressure on both the current account deficit and on food price inflation. The above repercussions will see more poor rural people flocking to urban areas. The Government’s ability to meet service delivery demands will be compromised even further than it already is. In an environment of escalating protest action against Government on the peripheries of large urban settlements, this will pose a further challenge to the hegemony of the ANC. It is uncertain to what extent the Government and the ANC identifies these risks. Certainly sentiment within the Government and the ANC ignored similar warnings on skills, mining, health, education, security, electricity, and labour market policy for which South Africa paid a heavy price. It is quite possible that the Government may therefore proceed with this scheme only to try and reverse the policy as its negative effects become more apparent. It is also possible that the Government may identify these repercussions but proceed regardless in order to achieve what they may see as the more important end of breaking the back of white commercial agriculture and handing farms to black farmers. On this score the ANC leadership’s recent support for incitements to shoot and kill white Afrikaans farmers is pertinent. Certainly the Government’s attitude to white skills in the civil service suggests that they are willing to sacrifice performance for racial ideology. We must also warn against regarding the second of the two proposals as a lesser of two evils. Destroying the economies of scale that make South Africa’s commercial agriculture sector viable will result in precisely the same consequences as we have spelt out above. Keep in mind that when Zanu-PF in Zimbabwe commenced its land reform programme it also commenced with a proposal of ‘one farmer, one farm’. We therefore warn our readers to take this latest policy proposal seriously, to identify the likely consequences of the proposal, and to prepare for the eventuality of the State going ahead with seizing all or part of South Africa’s agricultural land holdings. We caution strongly against taking Government assurances to the contrary to heart particularly when viewed against the track record of that same Government in nationalising mineral and water rights and in proposing legislation to seize any fixed or movable property without paying compensation. Frans Cronje and Catherine Schulze </div>

Warning bells for South Africa

Earlier this week SAIRR's new Unit for Risk Analysis described the proposed nationalisation of agricultural land in South Africa as a po...

2:13 PM

Proposed mega-development a mockery of environmental legislation

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE1HkUCyZPzL7FLH9upe47h1SmVYWXVUF70rLDU_nJqc2GFXTgRJQLJAQcWM4_tmnAi3-msdxrxLsCBk-M5jMmnNTn2GQeZAkSfBvn0kaDeUoXIHCDDDStq2j7sagVaKqt42YJOHYwYqMM/s1600-h/hangrock-dev-plett.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324290473465159074" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE1HkUCyZPzL7FLH9upe47h1SmVYWXVUF70rLDU_nJqc2GFXTgRJQLJAQcWM4_tmnAi3-msdxrxLsCBk-M5jMmnNTn2GQeZAkSfBvn0kaDeUoXIHCDDDStq2j7sagVaKqt42YJOHYwYqMM/s400/hangrock-dev-plett.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 299px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 235px" /></a>THE proposed R1.5-billion Hanglip Golf Estate along the Wittedrift road on the outskirts of Plettenberg Bay inches closer towards becoming a reality, as indicated by approval of its latest rezoning application. After what appeared to be an abrupt change of heart by MEC Pierre Uys of the Department of Environmental Affairs & Development Planning (DEA&DP), to approve the initially denied Guide Plan application on December 24 last year, the area earmarked for the development has now received the go-ahead to be rezoned by Bitou Municipality, before receiving approval for the environmental Record of Decision (ROD). Confirmed during a March 9 Bitou mayoral committee meeting, the decision to rezone the area from agricultural to township development before the ROD has been issued, has been hailed by legal experts as highly unconventional. But the municipality claims that the process is taking place within legal parameters. Says Bitou town planner Ludolph Gericke: "This is not common practice, but it is also not against the law. The municipality has an obligation to look at the environment independently of the DEA&DP." The proposed Hanglip Estate - said to be the biggest foreign investment development in the Southern Cape - will be undertaken by Maponya Developments and a consortium of True Motives 46, a South African company owned by main shareholders of MWB in London. The development, to be situated on 1086 hectares of existing farmland, forest and fynbos in the Bitou Valley, consists of 720 houses, a five-star hotel, a golf course and polo field, as well as a separate village featuring a commercial centre, offices, apartments, a school and community hall. At present the development is still in the planning stages and the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has yet to be approved, leaving some room for public appeal. "There is nothing the EIA does not comply with - our English partners made sure we went the extra mile in this regard," says Maponya Developments director Neil Lurie. Environmentalists are not satisfied, though, and are calling for the DEA&DP to seriously consider the environmental impact on the area and surrounds. According to Garden Route Initiative's critical biodiversity areas map, Hanglip - which has been identified as a priority corridor by the Eden to Addo Corridor Initiative in conjunction with SANParks - is listed as a critical biodiversity area. "If this development goes ahead it will make a mockery of our environmental legislation and international organisations such as the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund in Washington, who have invested in the Bitou Corridor and newly proclaimed Garden Route National Park," says Eden to Addo director Joan Berning. Although the developers have promised to rehabilitate certain areas of the Bitou River wetlands, their focus seems to be humanitarian and Maponya Developments have insisted that, as a condition of the ROD, a house to the value of R80 000 be built on municipal designated land, for every house that is sold in Hanglip Estate. "Houses will also be built in the estate for the top echelons of municipal staff," says Lurie, who is confident that jobs created during the building process would be sustained afterwards for maintenance purposes. Bitou Town planner Ludolph Gericke Contact Details: Mobile: 083 461 9941. Email: <a href="mailto:lgericke@plett.gov.za">lgericke@plett.gov.za</a>. Related links - <a href="http://news.propertyplettenberg.com/2009/04/13/hanglip-development-destroying-plettenberg-for-the-sake-of-some-municipality-staff-pockets/">Hanglip development: public interest trashed the sake of some municipality staff </a> <a href="http://news.propertyplettenberg.com/">http://news.propertyplettenberg.com/</a> Hat-Tip Sara

Proposed mega-development a mockery of environmental legislation

THE proposed R1.5-billion Hanglip Golf Estate along the Wittedrift road on the outskirts of Plettenberg Bay inches closer towards becoming a...

1:45 PM

South Africa's worst ministers

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYy3nWgsx-9cRB_BQ2P34scdfCShGMPZXIhKOMw8goqqweuJEDbRFWP5mNtZDx1GNU5w38Ya7_yuAIFeMsoOIgqLx5Lei5NI03Tj7ZXqGijpV4-3V65nS__-QzAw8bFRBo01hziSYtsnU/s1600-h/A_N_C_Cabinet.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311675898824976018" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYy3nWgsx-9cRB_BQ2P34scdfCShGMPZXIhKOMw8goqqweuJEDbRFWP5mNtZDx1GNU5w38Ya7_yuAIFeMsoOIgqLx5Lei5NI03Tj7ZXqGijpV4-3V65nS__-QzAw8bFRBo01hziSYtsnU/s400/A_N_C_Cabinet.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" /></a>The ANC (think: Alcoholics, Nepotism, Cronies) Cabinet is all about "A better life for all". More particularly, a better life for all those who happen to be sitting in Parliament... The Cabinet is littered with underperforming ministers who have been in office for over four years and each year they fail to pull up their socks. As the government is obviously oblivious to these inadequacies, here is a list of the worst ministers to help point them in the right direction. These ministers have failed to do their jobs and should be 'recalled' from office. Lulu Xingwana Position: Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs In power since: 2004 Previously: Deputy Minister of Minerals and Energy Struggle cred: Member of UDF Connections: None Education: Bachelor of Science, Diploma of Econ Principles, Diploma of Rural Development Reason for recall: Staff favouritism and fiddling the numbers Xingwana made headlines in March last year when she was accused of breaking up a marriage after she allegedly had an affair with one of her senior officials Phil Mohlahlane. The wife of the official wanted R100 000 in damages, but Xingwana denied the allegations. It is alleged that Xingwana protected Mohlahlane from the consequences of acts of misconduct which he committed at work and she gave him "undue privileges" including overseas trips and "positions of undue power". Xingwana was accused in July of meddling with the running of the Land Bank. She fired the Land Bank's chairperson Themba Langa who was believed to have been working hard to turn the bank around following a series of scandals relating to the misappropriation of funds. Langa was dismissed for disregarding a collective decision of the board and because of "unilateral decision making". She also squashed findings of forensic audits into the irregularities at the bank. Following all these shenanigans, Xingwana was removed from the business affairs of the Land Bank and Trevor Manuel took over. But she still runs the Department of Agriculture. Charles Nqakula Position: Defence Minister In power since: 2002 Previously: Minister of Safety and Security Struggle cred: Exiled from 1976 to 1981, underground operative for the ANC, member of Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) Connections: Married to Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula (Home Affairs) Education: Matric Reason for recall: Promoting emigration As Minister of Safety and Security (up until October 2008) Charles Nqakula's job was to protect the citizens of South Africa. Instead of doing that he became fed up and told those who were "whining" about high crime levels to just go to Australia. Many people took offence to his statement because, as tax payers and voters they have every right to complain when they are dissatisfied. His comments were highly insensitive to the victims of crime. Nqakula refused to step down when he came under fire as the rate of violent crime increased. In 2007-2008 house robberies increased by 13.5 percent. Robberies at business premises rocketed by 47.4 percent and truck hijackings went up by 39.6 percent. When President Kgalema Motlanthe came into power he removed Nqakula from the portfolio of safety and security and appointed him as the defence minister. Luckily, South Africans have spread so far and wide, that an attack on our country (from the outside, at any rate) doesn't seem imminent. Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula Position: Home Affairs Minister In power since: 2004 Previously: Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Struggle cred: Activist (political military structures) Connections: Married to Charles Nqakula (Defence) Education: Diploma in Project Management, Diploma in Primary Teaching Reason for recall: Making it harder for South Africans to travel Home Affairs has to be the worst department ever. If they are not taking the whole year to issue an identity document (yes, one), they are failing refugees. Thousands of refugees have been sleeping outside the Lindela offices due to Mapisa-Nqakula's department's incompetence. South Africans are now required to obtain a visa in order to visit the UK. This is because there were concerns from the UK that South Africa was being used as a transit point by al-Qaeda representatives to gain entry into that country. Fraudulent South African passports were confiscated during anti-terror raids. Home Affairs was warned six months ago to improve their passport security system or face new visa requirements, as usual the department did nothing. As a result, South Africans are now required to obtain visas to visit the UK. The move will affect 420 000 South Africans who enter Britain every year. Naledi Pandor Position: Education Minister In power since: 2004 Previously: Chancellor at Cape Technikon Struggle cred: Exiled Connections: None Education: Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts, Certificate in Education, Certificate of Civil Engineering Reason for recall: More than 200 000 students failed matric in 2008 Naledi Pandor's department is chaotic. Since Pandor took office, the matric results have declined every year. In 2005 the pass rate declined to 68.3 percent compared to 70.7 percent the previous year. Things went from bad to worse, in 2006 the pass rate dropped to 66.5 percent and it has been declining ever since, last year's pass rate was just 62.5 percent. To make matters worse the department failed to release the 2008 matric results in time and many students could not register for higher learning as they were left in limbo. OBE has not done well, although, admittedly, you cannot judge an education system on its first year. The level of literacy in this country is very low despite the huge amounts of money that the government keeps on pumping into the department. The level of violence in schools is alarming. Learners are frequently shot or stabbed on school premises. According to Centre of Justice and Crime Prevention 40 percent of educators do not feel safe in their schools while teaching. They also revealed that 20 percent of students were victims of some form of violence inside their schools. Fair enough, she isn't her department, but Pandor is responsible for running the department. That makes her accountable. Poor leadership and an inability to realise a vision for the department is reason enough to 'recall' her. Manto Tshabalala-Msimang Position: Minister in the Presidency In power since: 1999 Previously: Health Minister Struggle cred: Responsible for the health and well-being of ANC militants whilst in exile Connections: Married to Mendi Msimang (former ANC treasurer) Education: Bachelor of Arts, Master of Public Health, MD, Diploma in Obstetrics and Gynaecology Reason for recall: She's Manto When she was the Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang failed her department dismally — if it were up to her, all the HIV positive people would be stuffing themselves with beetroot, garlic and the African potato. The 'Beetroot minister' promoted vegetables over ARVs. There were calls for her to step down over incompetency, which she (and her buddy Thabo) ignored completely. In 2007 Msimang received a liver transplant and it was revealed that chronic alcoholism was the real reason why she needed a new liver. It also emerged that in the 70s she was convicted of theft at an Athlone Hospital in Botswana. She was found guilty of stealing a patient's watch, hospital blankets, linen and heaters. When President Kgalema Motlanthe took over from Thabo Mbeki (who was accused of protecting Msimang) he did the noble thing by removing her. She was appointed as the Minister in the Presidency. We are still trying to figure out what exactly the Minister of the Presidency does. President Motlanthe recently said: "The ANC never gives up on anyone." That may just explain the Manto phenomenon. So what do we have to look forward to in Jacob Zuma's Cabinet? Schabir Shaik for finance? Winnie Madikizela-Mandela for Social Welfare? Carl Niehaus for the Communication Department? And Julius Malema for... well... pretty much everything else.

South Africa's worst ministers

The ANC (think: Alcoholics, Nepotism, Cronies) Cabinet is all about "A better life for all". More particularly, a better life for ...

2:26 PM

Failed agricultural project into which the SA government and Eskom poured millions.

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRYZF-m8Kadd9kPyjMOhapEKDQ5BICTcWsqgCm5bphHtQT033w5Bap-xYexKcIvnfyPS_lgXqT9BafODXtSAPL05RH3awvPz_5MqIJEF7sH9VumOUZBoExjbSa96h12aCt8HAuv-UL_iM/s1600-h/chicken-coop.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272726876818336818" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRYZF-m8Kadd9kPyjMOhapEKDQ5BICTcWsqgCm5bphHtQT033w5Bap-xYexKcIvnfyPS_lgXqT9BafODXtSAPL05RH3awvPz_5MqIJEF7sH9VumOUZBoExjbSa96h12aCt8HAuv-UL_iM/s400/chicken-coop.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px" /></a> Controversy surrounds a failed Zululand agricultural project into which the government and Eskom have poured millions of rands. Serious allegations have been made concerning the bumbled project - whose failure has left local people feeling bitter. The issue began when Nomcebo Zondi, now chief director of the provincial land reform office, and Silondile Mkhize, founder members of the Phezu-komkhono Co-operative, took ownership of a R700 000 farm near Empangeni six years ago. The co-operative received more than R1 million from the department to start a poultry business, grow paprika, tea and rice. It also received a tractor through the agricultural department's mechanisation programme. A further R1,5 million was spent through Eskom's development foundation to build a farm to breed catfish for export. When The Mercury visited the farm recently, there was no evidence of activity. Buildings had been reduced to rubble and only the remains of the half-built fish-breeding ponds could be seen. There was no sign of ploughed fields, chicken houses, or even a tractor. Mkhize claimed locally instigated criminals had prevented the project from getting off the ground. "We wanted to grow paprika and had 5 000 chickens, but criminals came and hit our workers. They even killed somebody. They stole the fencing and broke down all our buildings." <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwHoOi_PsMEOgvhrxrm66poIIHy8JhDbDsf8_xIN5dRLSdYZSmkpx5if8f-7n576Y0WC4QP2fW1YpUL8eOEkLQ2JwJ76-CV5o-xqeJX0xC9jYDVzeN2DsWfFr3dcAHRLDca5rUS6DrndQ/s1600-h/traditional-leader.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272725989677017842" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwHoOi_PsMEOgvhrxrm66poIIHy8JhDbDsf8_xIN5dRLSdYZSmkpx5if8f-7n576Y0WC4QP2fW1YpUL8eOEkLQ2JwJ76-CV5o-xqeJX0xC9jYDVzeN2DsWfFr3dcAHRLDca5rUS6DrndQ/s400/traditional-leader.jpg" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 267px" /></a>However, local traditional leader Zenzo Zungu denied claims about the role of criminals. He handed a document to The Mercury, which showed that money given to the group in 2001 by the traditional affairs department was spent on offices set up at Zondi's home. "Mrs Zondi - she was a lawyer then - came to me at tribal court and asked that I call my people together because they wanted to start a development project for our women. After some time passed, I heard they were given R250 000 from traditional affairs. I wanted to know who had the money, who had decided on the co-operative - but they (Zondi and Mkhize) just kept quiet." "I called traditional affairs and told it what had happened. It promised to set up an audit, but we haven't heard anything." Zungu claimed the project had failed because the government had not authenticated written submissions. "Our people were used to get money - they got it in our name - which is very wrong." The traditional affairs department did not respond to questions from The Mercury. However, land affairs spokes-man Sipho Dlamini confirmed, on behalf of Zondi, that she was a founder member of the co-operative. "And about R1,3 million was allocated to the project which was paid directly to the land owner and service providers." Dlamini confirmed that the project had collapsed. A "taking parliament to the people" report showed the co-operative had received a tractor and 3 000 chickens from the agriculture department. Busi-ness management training and a poultry mentor were provided, construction of an abattoir was under way and a plan to market the paprika overseas was in the pipeline. According to a source, Mkhize travelled to Paris to find buyers. But the report suggested markets should have been found locally. Theft, skills development and budgeting were listed as challenges. Eskom confirmed that its development fund had paid more than R1,5 million towards the construction of fish ponds. Meanwhile, a local farmer has said: "The area is not suitable for paprika and crime is rife there. The project just wasn't viable."

Failed agricultural project into which the SA government and Eskom poured millions.

Controversy surrounds a failed Zululand agricultural project into which the government and Eskom have poured millions of rands. Serious all...

1:08 PM

Farms in South Africa KZN lie abandoned

<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269757579856093650" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSEto2mWtnNIwjAhyEy3T0VBbkeJFK05NCjD1j7JT2TiEgxOay_45d9Lm6K6BK975Mle-XjoILuBjUFaqe11gmE2vNGSqjKnvgKAXYzhqmvo1MgahBuCXu3AXNUMNP32z9xZ5g408lai8/s400/niggletAndVulture.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 262px" /><a href="http://www.thepost.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=739&fArticleId=vn20081117053356664C583317" title="KZN farms lie abandoned">KZN farms lie abandoned</a> 17 November 2008 Millions of rands spent by the government on land reform projects in Zululand have been wasted so far, with many farms handed to farmers since 2004 lying abandoned and derelict. More than 21 properties in the Empangeni and Eshowe districts, and reportedly many more across KZN bought by the land affairs department, lie fallow, producing only weeds, dead trees and choked sugar cane. Amid increased concern about food shortages, these farms have derelict or ransacked farmhouses and packing sheds. On some, pump houses have been reduced to rubble and farming equipment destroyed or stolen. Hennie de Villiers, a board member of the KZN agricultural union and chairman of the district agricultural committee in uThungulu - where more than 10 farms have been abandoned - said not only had land reform failed in the district, but it had also cost jobs and millions of rands in income from sugar cane, vegetables and export citrus. "At least 500 farm workers have lost their jobs. On one farm alone, over R9 million a year in income from export grapefruit has been squandered. All these farms were producing at least 60 tons of sugar cane a hectare a year. Now there is nothing," said de Villiers. On Valley Farm, Confluence, Concor and Grass Farm, valuable citrus trees are dead, irrigation pipes have been ripped from the ground and productive sugar cane fields have been either burnt or become overgrown with weeds. De Villiers said all the farms had been handed over as working entities. The new farmers inherited water rights, electricity, tractors and other farm implements. Pointing to a rusted trailer used to transport sugar cane, he said it had not moved for five years. "It's never been used. It's just been left to rot out in the open." This while the sugar industry in the province fights for its survival amid persisting drought conditions on the North Coast, rocketing input costs, low global sugar prices and more than 50 percent of the industry's land now under claim. Illovo Sugar managing director Don Macleod said cane supply had dropped from nearly three million tons a year to below 2,3 million tons for this year. "I won't be surprised if it drops to below two million next year. The knock-on effect is that mills are finding it hard to remain financially viable - in fact I would agree that at least one mill is going to close on the North Coast, if not next year at least the year after." Macleod said the land claim process had also taken its toll on the mental attitude of farmers. "When you think 85 000ha of cane land in KZN is under claim and only 2 200ha have been resolved, it has to affect people's mental attitudes. No farmer is going to invest in his property if he knows it's under claim." A land affairs department official said the reasons for the failed farm projects in KZN were complicated. "We really tried to get these projects going but there were social and political tensions between communities. In one case, the head of the community group was shot and killed. He was really a good farmer but the people didn't trust him. They believed he was taking money deposited directly into his bank account from the department for the project. That farm is now in the process of being repossessed by the Land Bank." Kwanalu's Sandy le Marque said land reform failures had brought agricultural projects across KZN to a halt. "There are hundreds of farms all over KZN which are in the same state as those in Empangeni and Eshowe." Melmoth Farmers' Association chairman Nick Harris said government bungling was the single biggest reason for the failure of the land reform process. "There are four farms in our district which are no longer productive. Neighbouring farmers are more than ready to plant and plough the fields for the new farmers, but there is so much red tape. "No one can get involved unless they are registered contractors with the agriculture department. "They have to be BEE accredited and it can take anything up to six months to get approval," Harrison said. "By then the planting season has passed. The new farmers are begging for help."

Farms in South Africa KZN lie abandoned

KZN farms lie abandoned 17 November 2008 Millions of rands spent by the government on land reform projects in Zululand have been wasted so ...

7:56 AM

Land Mess nothing short of an absolute scandal

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy6qjOuOk21bA0jP-nhO3VbyTXQ-JOngB8f2C9-ADlPkYvtI39jllWBNA9cEjh_vMtbGx9oSxyavcfOEApF5B7fJgjDCm6ACTq5TG6CRt8C0O7S8-K_v84aVHkCTSSarggd_fflgQfQKY/s1600-h/landbankxingwana.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5252703945370991474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy6qjOuOk21bA0jP-nhO3VbyTXQ-JOngB8f2C9-ADlPkYvtI39jllWBNA9cEjh_vMtbGx9oSxyavcfOEApF5B7fJgjDCm6ACTq5TG6CRt8C0O7S8-K_v84aVHkCTSSarggd_fflgQfQKY/s400/landbankxingwana.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" /></a> THE tenure of minister Lulu Xingwana at agriculture and land affairs illustrates precisely what has gone wrong in the government under former president Thabo Mbeki. Since her appointment in 2006, her department has lurched from disastrous underdelivery on policy undertakings to gross mismanagement of the agencies in her charge. The Land Bank's annual report tabled in Parliament this week gave an a insight into how a lack of internal controls, poor lending practices, wasteful expenditure, irregular appointments, fraud, negligence and gross misconduct disregarded the constituency it was created to serve. While the rapid slide at the Land Bank graphically illustrates how weak political leadership will ruin the day-to-day functioning of government, the damage at the institution is reversible. To that purpose, administrative authority of the bank was transferred to Finance Minister Trevor Manuel in July. The lapse of commercial agricultural development and the evaporation of opportunities in the formal farming and support sectors is similarly a temporary setback, however disastrous SA's belated response to soaring global commodity prices may seem. Far more serious , however, is the near complete paralysis of land and agrarian reform. With the now rare exception of a number of unreconstructed racist proponents of the old order, no one doubts the urgent importance of transferring the ownership of the country from a white minority to the people. Yet, the Land Claims Commission is still to get to grips with the bulk of the work of achieving justice for millions of people dispossessed under racist legislation since 1913. The restitution process has been bedeviled by poor administration of the land claims process and an inexplicable inability of the agriculture ministry to deliver development support to the people supposed to benefit materially from the policies executed in the land ministry. Increasingly, throughout rural SA, new injustices are being visited upon people who have got the short end of the stick for centuries. The twisted irony is that millions of hectares of land are available to establish emerging farmers, either through the property market or, as municipal land audits now trickling in are showing, through making available vast tracts of land in the possession of the state. But even in the handful of cases where emerging farmers have fought their way past obtuse bureaucrats to gain access to modest plots of land, they complain that the single greatest impediment to success is not their lack of skill or even the unforgiving nature of the climate, but the administration of agriculture in its various government manifestations. The failures outlined above are nothing short of an absolute scandal. The lack of delivery and support from a supposedly sympathetic government not only fails to transform the countryside, but it has the potential of catapulting social, political and economic instability from the back country into every sphere of South African life. The mess at the Land Bank alone seems enough to sink the career of any politician; the catastrophe perpetrated in land reform at the department under Xingwana has firmly shown her to be no friend of the people. As the new order in South African politics unfolds, the best they may hope for the redeployment of the minister elsewhere in the government -- as far away from agriculture and land affairs as possible.

Land Mess nothing short of an absolute scandal

THE tenure of minister Lulu Xingwana at agriculture and land affairs illustrates precisely what has gone wrong in the government under form...

2:32 PM

ANC fat cats looted Land Bank of R2-billion

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghMUB1zGpW33jWbFQHQqKDF7AwdkKTXp4fkDJaVnFSvFLj59DBAA_kFE9QlOmp4YijjTEECHGkH2IyUs2o0AFNjCTOKw0p-q2G7bqT4cb1iAOfxai3xwH4YM49-wWCwaS3c-yZx9DLtfo/s1600-h/landbanklooted.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5225084901502362194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghMUB1zGpW33jWbFQHQqKDF7AwdkKTXp4fkDJaVnFSvFLj59DBAA_kFE9QlOmp4YijjTEECHGkH2IyUs2o0AFNjCTOKw0p-q2G7bqT4cb1iAOfxai3xwH4YM49-wWCwaS3c-yZx9DLtfo/s400/landbanklooted.jpg" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>The removal of minister of land and agriculture, Lulu Xingwana, as political head of the ailing Land Bank provides a good opportunity for minister of finance, Trevor Manuel, to embark on a thorough clean-out of the corruption that has become synonymous with that institution. The Land Bank is undoubtedly one of the most mismanaged public entities. It is corrupt to the core. Under Xingwana and her predecessor, Thoko Didiza, the Land Bank became a private kitty for politically connected fat cats. The government’s initial mandate for the bank — which, under apartheid, was Afrikaner agriculture’s private lender — was a noble one . The bank was supposed to deracialise the country’s agricultural sector through, among other things, the targeted financing of emerging farmers, and helping historically disadvantaged South Africans enter the food-production sector. </li><ul></ul>The mandate also required the bank to “ ensure that resource-poor farmers would become active participants in mainstream commercial agriculture ... while continuing to service commercial farmers”. Implicit in this was the role of the bank in ensuring South Africa’s food security, something even more imperative now, in the context of the international food crisis. The government mandated that the bank’s money be used for agricultural purposes. It remains a mystery why bank bosses deemed it fit to deviate from that . What the country’s struggling farmers witnessed instead was the opposite of what the bank was mandated to achieve. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMWXWWK3_grtDzIA_d4iQntvSMQBhB3p7-Nkrc1m4IoxZ52J-jqIrwtHBRUjxs_EulLv42FWlE64QruKKXCfUTl3Zzb2VthVozOJaF0Befjaa2R5NpH8NG6-EwgEkxMiTMpE0CQiNruYs/s1600-h/land+and+agri.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5225072172528176866" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMWXWWK3_grtDzIA_d4iQntvSMQBhB3p7-Nkrc1m4IoxZ52J-jqIrwtHBRUjxs_EulLv42FWlE64QruKKXCfUTl3Zzb2VthVozOJaF0Befjaa2R5NpH8NG6-EwgEkxMiTMpE0CQiNruYs/s400/land+and+agri.jpg" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" /></a> Poor farmers were left stranded while hundreds of millions of rands were dished out to the elite few to invest in golf resorts and other property developments. In an act reminiscent of a banana republic , one of the recipients allegedly used a large chunk of this generosity to finance the purchase of a soccer team. More worrying is that those responsible for looting and pillaging the bank have not been brought to account. Among them are those bank officials who used more than R2-billion of the bank’s allocations to fund their close friends and business associates. The audit revealed that:<ul><li>Former Land Bank CEO Alan Mukoki and his executives had deviated from the Land Bank’s mandate without the board approval of Didiza and funded companies that had nothing to do with agriculture;</li><li>Three different law firms had advised the Land Bank against using tax payers’ money to fund golf estates.</li><li>More than R300-million was given to a company called Amber Mountain Investments to develop an upmarket equestrian estate in the KwaZulu-Natal north coast. Another multimillion-rand golf estate was developed in Midrand using money from the Land Bank. Amber Mountain features prominent businessman Abe Maduna and Paul Baloyi, the CEO of the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA), as directors .</li><li>Mukoki’s Executive Assistant and then Acting Head of Internal Audit Daryl Rose also had financial interest in the companies that benefited from the loans. This includes a company called Northern Jungle Trading, which was granted a R247-million loan by the Land Bank to develop a golf estate in the Vaal area.</li><li>Sam Mkhabela, a Land Bank board member who has since resigned, also benefited from the Northern Jungle loan.</li><li>A Land Bank loan was also used to help KwaZulu Natal sugar tycoon Patrick Sokhela to buy PSL status for his team, Amazulu, after he had failed to raise the money on the open market. Sokhela also received a R700-million loan to buy a sugar mill, a loan whose size over-exposed the bank</li></ul>We trust that Manuel’s team will leave no stone unturned in its quest to clean up the bank. The negligence or complicity of Didiza and Xingwana in the mismanagement must be established. What is clear is crimes were committed. The South African public will expect criminal investigations to follow. Source <a class="newshead" href="http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=804790" target="_parent">Muck out the Land Bank sty </a>

ANC fat cats looted Land Bank of R2-billion

The removal of minister of land and agriculture, Lulu Xingwana, as political head of the ailing Land Bank provides a good opportunity for mi...

5:01 AM

Murder in South Africa

Most of South Africa's remaining commercial farmers are being driven off their land by a combination of ANC-landrights laws and the armed attacks on farmers, in which some 3,000 farmers have been murdered, since the ANC came to power. Already the country has no agricultural land left in the legal sense -- since all agricultural land now falls under the jurisdiction of municipal boundaries countrywide. In 1994 when SA still exported agricultural products on a massive scale, it had 85,000 farmers using less than 7% of the total land surface. At the moment, less than 10,000 commercial farmers remain, raising crops on less than 0.75% of the total land surface. The country is now facing serious food shortages for the first time in its entire recorded agricultural history since the mid-1600's. WARNING Graphic pictures of farm murders in South Africa ~ some of the people mentioned in this video were blind, the oldest was a woman of 93, the youngest a baby of 6 months. <object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/06Twyq8s2po"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/06Twyq8s2po" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> South Africa's farmers and their families live in a constant state of siege... some 3,000 agriculturalists, their workers and kin have been killed since 1994 on SA farms -- yet they are the country's food-producers: producing 85% of all of SA maize crops to feed its 47-million citizens and 5-million refugees... . While US secretary of state Condoleeza Rice is urging people to grow more crops, South Africans are murdering their farmers instead. With only 10,000 commercial farmers remaining to raise excess-food on only 0,75% of South Africa's TOTAL land for growing commercial crops, (CIA stats) South Africa is now facing chronic famine conditions... <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFKnpVuePcHhjKWkviN95ZOoZlyhKHsKGg912VzltXpg2_R-7spDxn_sbM-Cj5DGBJjEfI8RT-rdCtunimVWsGS7RCtkFT6jjAmeEbWT9DVyK-cXiSJl3wNk6v46DkM_vLay_F2P6FrYFy/s1600-h/cradle+of+mankind.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5209292881869636834" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFKnpVuePcHhjKWkviN95ZOoZlyhKHsKGg912VzltXpg2_R-7spDxn_sbM-Cj5DGBJjEfI8RT-rdCtunimVWsGS7RCtkFT6jjAmeEbWT9DVyK-cXiSJl3wNk6v46DkM_vLay_F2P6FrYFy/s400/cradle+of+mankind.jpg" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" /></a>This map of the Johannesburg region shows the number of armed attacks against residents of agricultural holdings around greater-Johannesburg thus far this year. In the "Cradle-of-Mankind" valley around Kromdraai alone, 89 farm attacks and 140+ break-ins have occurred this year, which were never reported to the news media. An average of 32,000 violent deaths a year are officially recorded in South Africa - but the government severely censors crime statistics -- and the actual death rate could be twice the annual 32,000 recorded average. The most-at-risk-of-murder group in the entire world are South African land owners, who are being slaughtered, often after several hours of cruel torture, at the rate of 313 per 100,000 - four times the national average for other minorities and 100% more than the death rate in warzone Iraq. South Africa's citizens are living in a secret, undeclared war - especially its privately-owned agricultural sector is being terrorised out of existence. South Africa has the highest recorded per capita murder rate in the world, whites, in particular, are being culled like springbok in a hunting safari. More people are murdered in one week under African rule than did die violently over roughly four decades of Afrikaner governance. South Africa is now as violent as Iraq, Liberia, or the Congo. So violent is the “free” South Africa that, for a period, the freewheeling African National Congress government imposed an official blackout on national crime statistics. It now releases them once yearly. The SA Police Crime Statistics - recently updated to March 2007 on their website: The rest of this horror story can be read on these official statistics Click here for the Police stats in PDF format: <a href="http://www.saps.gov.za/statistics/reports/crimestats/2007/_pdf/rsa_total.pdf">http://www.saps.gov.za/statistics/reports/cri...</a> NOTE: They hide the actual murders by splitting them into different categories - they show total murders, plus... way down the list they show the culpible homicides When taken together, the official number is huge - over 32,000 murders per annum. The USA by comparison, with 6 times our population, only has 16,000 murders per annum. As ghastly as the official figures are, they’re most probably doctored. Interpol have South African murder statistics that are roughly double the official South African state statistics, while the South African Medical Research Council claims there are approximately a third more murders in South Africa than the official police statistics reveal. Genocide - "Us And Them" <object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/VAIXhk7wVZY&hl=en"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/VAIXhk7wVZY&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> Dr. Gregory H. Stanton heads Genocide Watch. He says the slaughter of some 3000 Boers is genocide. The rates at which the farmers are being eliminated, the torture and dehumanization involved—all point to systematic extermination. “Genocide is always organized, usually by the state,” Stanton has written on Genocide Watch’s website. Indeed, according to Sky News, the farmers believe “these attacks are an orchestrated, government sanctioned attempt to purge South Africa of white land owners, as has already happened in Zimbabwe.” That certainly would explain why the ANC plans to dismantle the Commando System, a private Afrikaner militia that has existed since the 1770s, and is the only defense at the farmers’ disposal. More damning—and contrary to the pro-forma denials issued by the ANC’s oleaginous officials—The Daily Mail reported in February 2006, that the government is dead-set-on forcibly seizing the land of thousands of farmers. By the year 2014, a third of the Boers’ property will have been given to blacks. S.African Farm Murders: Who is actually behind them? Here is another piece of hard evidence uncovered concerning Farm Murders and what was told by someone senior in one of the few remaining Commando Units (volunteer groups who protect the rural areas). He said there is talk about "communism" being behind the farm murders. There is also a whole "underground crime organisation" that may be linked to farm murders and all these things may work together. However, he said there is "talk" that three particular people connected to the ANC are actually the driving force behind the farm murders. The three names the informant said he has heard people talk of are:- 1. Jacob Zuma (former Deputy President that Mbeki fired but whom the commies love and who will try to stand for President in 2009). 2. Jackie Selebi - the man who heads our national Police force. (In recent months the Mass Media has been bringing up hard evidence showing Jackie Selebi's connections to organised crime). 3. Mosiuoa 'Terror' Lekota - the Minister of Defense here in S.Africa. (Interestingly, shortly before his death P.W. Botha also mentioned that he thinks Lekota is a very dangerous man. He did not elaborate on what made him think that. The media love him, but PW had another view of him).

Murder in South Africa

Most of South Africa's remaining commercial farmers are being driven off their land by a combination of ANC-landrights laws and the arme...

4:47 PM

South Africa P.I.G.