gsvol
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Here is my cliff notes version with the complete foreword and excerpts from each chapter:
oops; got this message; The text that you have entered is too long (297588 characters). Please shorten it to 10000 characters long.
Soo, I'll include just the foreword and then add the chapters one or two at a time later if there is any interest. There is a link to the whole book under the title.
THE GREAT SOUTH AFRICAN LAND SCANDAL
The Great South African Land Scandal
FOREWORD (Part I of II parts)
This book cried out to be written.
Stories about the collapse of farms
handed over to emerging farmers under
the governments land reform program
have circulated for some time. But over
the last two years, the desecration of
some of South Africas productive farmland
has increased to such an extent that land
is being taken out of production at an
alarming rate.
The ominous element in the picture is:
where will it end? Now that the government
has given itself powers to expropriate
land at will, for whatever purpose, will
the end of this destruction ever be in sight?
Concerned farmers are supporting the
publication of this book. They see first
hand every day the results of the governments
land restitution program. Occasionally one
reads about these catastrophes in newspapers.
Some television actuality programs feature
farms which have been destroyed after a
handover. But there appears to have been
no concerted effort by anyone to actually
investigate the outcome of these transactions,
both for the benefit of the public which paid
for the land, and in light of the broader
problem of decreasing food production in the
country.
In most cases, at least as far as newspapers
are concerned, handovers are depicted with
exuberance by reporters. Pictures of people
toyi-toying after receiving title deeds to
their ancestral land are complemented by
gratuitous individual stories of people
returning to the land of their birth. In
many instances, this is not the case. In any
event, why havent questions been asked one
or two years down the line about what became
of this joyous transfer? Some follow ups occur,
but not many. And they are journalists probes,
not government assessments.
This is not a scientific book in the sense
that every single land claim transaction has
been investigated. Indeed, we have just started.
Perhaps this book should be called Volume One.
There appear to be hundreds of examples of farm
collapses after restitution. We didnt have the
resources to hire an army of researchers to search
and account for every farm which has been lost
to production, or has been turned into a squatter
camp.
But we have garnered enough evidence, at least
as a start, to realize that there is a very
ominous and ultimately calamitous trend afoot
in South Africa, the results of which could
seriously undermine food production.
Our researchers were in some instances part time.
But they were dedicated and had the advantage of
knowing the South African agricultural sector well.
Opening one door led to other doors, and a picture
emerged which differed little from one end of
South Africa to the other. There were no examples
found where the conditions existing on the farm
at the time of transfer had either been maintained
or improved, without the help of outsiders. In some
instances, those to whom the farm had belonged
helped the new owners. Other examples revealed
white managers brought in quietly after production
started to wobble.
In many cases, the beneficiaries were left to
their own devices. Some recipients really wanted
to farm but received little or no assistance.
In other situations, a committee representing
the tribe simply took over the farm, awarding
themselves large salaries while carrying on with
their lives somewhere else. The workers ran
the farm until something broke, then the rot set
in. Operating capital simply disappeared on
salaries, 4 x 4 vehicles and travel expenses,
with workers eventually demonstrating in a nearby
town for back salaries.
One researcher was shot at by an angry chief,
while another was told he must make written
application to visit a ailed land reform farm
which, in reality, belongs to the taxpayers.
He went anyway. There was nobody at the gate,
and a detailed examination was made of the farm
without anyone even asking who he was!
This is not a definitive history of who is
ultimately entitled to what land in South
Africa. There are dozens of academic sources
where the origins of land ownership can be
quoted, and counter-argued. This book is
concerned about agricultural production in
the last nation in Africa which is self-
sufficient in food. We dont want another
Zimbabwe. If 35 000 commercial farmers produce
enough food for the people of Southern Africa,
why take their farms?
We discovered a number of outrageous land
claims some based on hearsay, others which
overlapped as different tribal warlords fought
for the same piece of turf. Some claims were
simply lies, while others claimed ground for
which they had already been compensated. The
existence of graves was another reason for
land claims.
An important heritage site has been claimed,
not by people whose tribal forefathers lived
on the ground, but by people whose forefathers
were taken in by the missionaries who created
the site, to escape warring tribal chiefs.
Through the grace and charity of these
missionaries, they were allowed to stay and
their children were born at the mission. Now
their descendants are claiming the heritage
site!
Under what duress do South African farmers
operate? They pay taxes for security, yet
they conduct their own policing. Many operate
in the most violent environment - outside of
a war - in the world.
We examine how land claims have affected
operating farmers, why they cant sell, or
obtain a bank loan. Many have been driven
off their farms by invaders and intimidation.
They have turned the key on a lifetime of work.
Others have been threatened with death. More
than 1 500 have been brutally murdered since
1994, in many instances without anything being
stolen.
oops; got this message; The text that you have entered is too long (297588 characters). Please shorten it to 10000 characters long.
Soo, I'll include just the foreword and then add the chapters one or two at a time later if there is any interest. There is a link to the whole book under the title.
THE GREAT SOUTH AFRICAN LAND SCANDAL
The Great South African Land Scandal
FOREWORD (Part I of II parts)
This book cried out to be written.
Stories about the collapse of farms
handed over to emerging farmers under
the governments land reform program
have circulated for some time. But over
the last two years, the desecration of
some of South Africas productive farmland
has increased to such an extent that land
is being taken out of production at an
alarming rate.
The ominous element in the picture is:
where will it end? Now that the government
has given itself powers to expropriate
land at will, for whatever purpose, will
the end of this destruction ever be in sight?
Concerned farmers are supporting the
publication of this book. They see first
hand every day the results of the governments
land restitution program. Occasionally one
reads about these catastrophes in newspapers.
Some television actuality programs feature
farms which have been destroyed after a
handover. But there appears to have been
no concerted effort by anyone to actually
investigate the outcome of these transactions,
both for the benefit of the public which paid
for the land, and in light of the broader
problem of decreasing food production in the
country.
In most cases, at least as far as newspapers
are concerned, handovers are depicted with
exuberance by reporters. Pictures of people
toyi-toying after receiving title deeds to
their ancestral land are complemented by
gratuitous individual stories of people
returning to the land of their birth. In
many instances, this is not the case. In any
event, why havent questions been asked one
or two years down the line about what became
of this joyous transfer? Some follow ups occur,
but not many. And they are journalists probes,
not government assessments.
This is not a scientific book in the sense
that every single land claim transaction has
been investigated. Indeed, we have just started.
Perhaps this book should be called Volume One.
There appear to be hundreds of examples of farm
collapses after restitution. We didnt have the
resources to hire an army of researchers to search
and account for every farm which has been lost
to production, or has been turned into a squatter
camp.
But we have garnered enough evidence, at least
as a start, to realize that there is a very
ominous and ultimately calamitous trend afoot
in South Africa, the results of which could
seriously undermine food production.
Our researchers were in some instances part time.
But they were dedicated and had the advantage of
knowing the South African agricultural sector well.
Opening one door led to other doors, and a picture
emerged which differed little from one end of
South Africa to the other. There were no examples
found where the conditions existing on the farm
at the time of transfer had either been maintained
or improved, without the help of outsiders. In some
instances, those to whom the farm had belonged
helped the new owners. Other examples revealed
white managers brought in quietly after production
started to wobble.
In many cases, the beneficiaries were left to
their own devices. Some recipients really wanted
to farm but received little or no assistance.
In other situations, a committee representing
the tribe simply took over the farm, awarding
themselves large salaries while carrying on with
their lives somewhere else. The workers ran
the farm until something broke, then the rot set
in. Operating capital simply disappeared on
salaries, 4 x 4 vehicles and travel expenses,
with workers eventually demonstrating in a nearby
town for back salaries.
One researcher was shot at by an angry chief,
while another was told he must make written
application to visit a ailed land reform farm
which, in reality, belongs to the taxpayers.
He went anyway. There was nobody at the gate,
and a detailed examination was made of the farm
without anyone even asking who he was!
This is not a definitive history of who is
ultimately entitled to what land in South
Africa. There are dozens of academic sources
where the origins of land ownership can be
quoted, and counter-argued. This book is
concerned about agricultural production in
the last nation in Africa which is self-
sufficient in food. We dont want another
Zimbabwe. If 35 000 commercial farmers produce
enough food for the people of Southern Africa,
why take their farms?
We discovered a number of outrageous land
claims some based on hearsay, others which
overlapped as different tribal warlords fought
for the same piece of turf. Some claims were
simply lies, while others claimed ground for
which they had already been compensated. The
existence of graves was another reason for
land claims.
An important heritage site has been claimed,
not by people whose tribal forefathers lived
on the ground, but by people whose forefathers
were taken in by the missionaries who created
the site, to escape warring tribal chiefs.
Through the grace and charity of these
missionaries, they were allowed to stay and
their children were born at the mission. Now
their descendants are claiming the heritage
site!
Under what duress do South African farmers
operate? They pay taxes for security, yet
they conduct their own policing. Many operate
in the most violent environment - outside of
a war - in the world.
We examine how land claims have affected
operating farmers, why they cant sell, or
obtain a bank loan. Many have been driven
off their farms by invaders and intimidation.
They have turned the key on a lifetime of work.
Others have been threatened with death. More
than 1 500 have been brutally murdered since
1994, in many instances without anything being
stolen.