The Transvaal Agricultural Union (TAU SA) has congratulated the mainly white agricultural sector and in particular all mainly white farmers for the remarkable achievement of growing the agricultural sector by an astounding 22 percent, whilst other sectors of the South African economy are experiencing unfavourable conditions.
TAU SA President, Louis Meintjes, affirmed that this notable achievement was a feather in the cap of the agricultural sector and clearly indicates the resolve of agriculturalists, which remain, in spite of climatological and political challenges, one of only two sectors indicating growth while the rest languish in recession.
Because of black labour and related security issues, farmers have increasingly turned to mechanisation. Also, as the The Economist reported, some 70 percent of the eight million hectares of already redistributed land in black hands is now fallow.
“This pertinent information follows on the heels of [former] President Jacob Zuma’s acknowledgement that land claimants are not interested in gaining access to land, rather, the vast majority; prefer to settle land claims on a financial basis.
“Perhaps the time has come for government to steer the country on a path of growth, to shake off the stigma and untenable situation of junk status and to restore law and order instead of persistently piloting attacks against farmers and their land whilst it is clear that the so called ‘land hunger’ does not exist, and is merely a ‘money hunger’ in disguise; all this whilst the commercial farmer is practically the only group still achieving economic success, over and above the fact that they still put food on South Africa’s table every single day.
“It is therefore high time that the government refrain from throwing political threats at the door of agriculturalists and leave farmers alone to do what they do best,” said Meintjes.
Last year, Meintjies said farmers were fed up with being called land thieves. They have title deeds to show that they are not guilty, the president added. “Us farmers are tired of being called criminals who stole the land,” Meintjes said in a statement. “We all have our deeds and paid for the land.”
Government earned revenue from duties and taxes from each land transaction, and local authorities milked them for rates, he said. “Therefore, farmers do not need to tolerate any of these false allegations anymore.”
South African President Ramaphosa has claimed that the coming land grabs would “unlock economic growth” and “bring more land in South Africa to full use”. But Bennie Van Zyl, the general manager of TAU SA said the the result of land grabs would be the exact opposite.
“For us, this is a pity that they’ve made their choice, because no one will invest in this economy and we actually need growth to address the realities of South Africa. So we have great concern for this approach,” Van Zyl explained.
“A lot of foreign countries that have already contacted us as an organisation say if that is the case, we are not willing to invest in your country anymore,” he noted. “And if the ANC goes through with this, it will be devastating for this country,” he told RT.
According to Van Zyl, the ANC will be facing tough competition from Julius Malema’s The Economic Freedom Fighters Party (EFF) in the coming elections. The EFF is a radical far-left political party, that has long called for the confiscation of white land.
