Further to reading an article in the Online Edition of the Independent I was struck by the perculiarity of one of the stories. It wasn't anything to do with global terrorism, Unionists or even the defeat of Israel in Lebanon - instead it was a story concerning white South African farmers. Those that know me know I have a quite a strong set of opinions on inherent racism in the certain areas of the Afrikaner psyche, but I did not expect to read what I did.
The Independent says:
The Independent says:
South Africa has told its white farmers they will risk losing their land if they fail to agree on acceptable selling prices for black resettlement within the next six months, the first time the country has set down such stringent rules for land reform policy.
In a manner that seems exceptionally reminiscent of Zimbabwe's disastrous policy it seems that the patience has gone into short supply, along with common sense, and subsequently white farmers are staring eviction in the face. Admittedly the transfer involved is not in the same league as Zimbabwe, whereby Mugabe is attempting to transfer ownership of all land back to black control:
The government has set itself the target of transferring 30 per cent of productive farmland from white to black hands by 2014. But, so far, only 4 per cent of land has been dealt with, and analysts say far more money - at least £200m annually - needs to be spent on land reform if this aim is to be achieved.
It just seems that on the surface of things, the ruling party of South Africa has gone too far too correct the imbalances of the country that existed during apartheid. The balance, once in favour of whites is now perhaps just far too preoccupied with equality existing as a numerical value and not on the basis of who is best suited for a particular position. The introduction of quotas of black and white players in South African cricket teams is an example of this - the case may be that there are more black players that are better than white and vice-versa but this cannot be addressed when equality is pushed too far. Simply put it favours neither party.
What Lulu Xingwana, the agriculture minister in Thabo Mbeki's government calls "people who are not committed to transformation" have most likely been residents on the land for generations now. One cannot also just presume that white farmers will want to sell their land. It is after all their livelihood in the post-apartheid melting pot.
The South African government just needs to exercise a certain degree of compassion towards the white farmers.
What Lulu Xingwana, the agriculture minister in Thabo Mbeki's government calls "people who are not committed to transformation" have most likely been residents on the land for generations now. One cannot also just presume that white farmers will want to sell their land. It is after all their livelihood in the post-apartheid melting pot.
The South African government just needs to exercise a certain degree of compassion towards the white farmers.
