You bastards will stay poor!

(src: http://www.africancrisis.org/ZZZ/ZZZ_News_007285.asp)

Video Clip: Land Reform - Celebrating in Hope - South Africa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuGHKBJV3uA


The great South African Land Scandal:
http://greatsalandscandal.blogspot.com/


There is plenty of solid, hard evidence: The South African government will "buy" productive white owned farms, hand them over to any black person that makes a claim against it (often times with only anecdotal evidence being sufficient)

Then surprise, the new people that have just been handed prime farms (game farms, lodges, maize farms, dairy farms, wine farms etc) run it quickly into the ground.

There should be no surprise. If you just hand people the fruits of someone else's labour, what do YOU think is going to happen ?

The government has set aggressive targets for land reform - it wants to purchase (or obtain otherwise -- no more willing buyer willing seller) 30% of all registered land in South Africa, and redistribute it to black people.

This process has already resulted in nearly halving South Africa's productive food capacity. In fairness this can't be blamed solely on land redistribution policy. I'm sure the outright murdering of a significant proportion of the white farmers also contributed * (see below).

Of course white farmers are hesitant to make large new investments in their land, because at any moment the government can come along and take it away through a pending land claim.

Instead of handing productive farms over, why not give undeveloped land to our upcoming black farmers, and allow the recipients to develop it (through the usual land bank loans - instead of purchasing productive existing farms with that money) ?

Is this not what the white farmers had to do when they just started out 10-20 years ago ? Why should it be any different today for a black farmer just starting out ?

Indeed: You bastards will stay poor!



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Government Sources:

You can see plenty of good intentions despite the flawed concept that "people who work the land deserve to own the land" (Imagine how hard the average Entrepreneur will laugh at that: You deserve to own anything only when you buy it - that is what the free market system is all about)

http://www.info.gov.za/speeches/2005/05072812151001.htm
(Minister of Agriculture)

http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/pubs/umrabulo/umrabulo24/landreform.html
(Confidence to push ahead with land reform)

http://land.pwv.gov.za/publications/Land_Summit/Conference_Papers/Land%20Summit%20financing%20-%20World%20bank%20speech.pps
(Powerpoint slides - Financing of Land Reform - looks like a well thought out presentation, but dear reader I'll leave it as a challenge to you to spot the problems)

Farm Murders* (White farmers!)

Genocide Watch Report:
http://www.genocidewatch.org/BoersSlain01.htm

Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_Farmer_Murders

Farmers Achilles Tendons slashed
http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1878534,00.html

The farm murder plague:
http://www.christianaction.org.za/firearmnews/2004-03_Thefarmmurderplague.htm