Posted on 11/08/2004 10:17:03 AM PST by Tailgunner Joe
JOHANNESBURG - Yelling "land for the poor", tens of thousands of protesters took to South Africa's streets on Saturday to demand a quicker handover of white-owned farms to landless blacks, organisers said.
Some 10,000 people marched on the offices of the country's biggest farming union in Pretoria calling for better rights for farm workers and faster land reform -- by force if necessary -- 10 years after the collapse of apartheid.
Landless blacks and farm workers also took their grievances to other farming unions they say represent white interests in nine marches across the country, organised by the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the Landless Peoples Movement.
"Land reform is too slow and action needs to be taken," said SACP spokesman Mazibuko Kanyiso Jara. "Land must be returned to the people ... and the government must expropriate it if necessary."
South Africa wants to shift half its prime agricultural land into black hands within 10 years, but analysts say less than 4 per cent has been transferred since the end of apartheid.
Land reform is part of wider efforts to redress decades of injustice under white rule, including the eviction of thousands of non-white South Africans from their land.
But it is a thorny topic in a region where white farmers fear a Zimbabwe-style land grab -- a policy South Africa has pledged not to repeat.
Jara said 60,000 people joined the marches nationwide. Police were not immediately available to confirm that figure.
The SACP said the government must speed the reform process by forcibly acquiring land from white farmers instead of seeking willing sellers. It is estimated that whites make up less than 12 per cent of the population but hold 80 per cent of the land.
Demonstrators in Pretoria gave Agri SA, South Africa's biggest farming union, until Dec. 15 to respond to their demands and said that if no action was taken they would step up a campaign of protests and pickets.
Agri SA has said it accepts it must contribute to black economic empowerment but that the government's plans for the sector are too ambitious.
They should be holding up signs that say - "We want famine" and "We want to starve" and "We want a civil war"
On the road to destruction, and honking to pass.
Could not have put it better myself!
South Africa used to be one of the strongest economies in the world and was a paradise to boot. But the Libs & the UN had to meddle in their internal affairs and now the blacks have turned it into a 3rd world craphole. The people of Africa are almost without exception uneducated supersitious morons.
South Africa could implode just like Zimbaboonwe did.
Zimbabwe in the making! If I were a South African, black, white, or green, I'd be visiting the consulates of whatever country would let me apply for immigration.
Those poor buggers have already seen the devastation of Mugabe and his perverted band of thugs, and now they want to emulate those spectacular defeats in South Africa.
What a waste. This is a continent that desperately needs moral fiber. They need an African style Revival of Biblical proportions.
My wife is from South Africa. Her parents still living in South Africa. They are coming here for Christmas...I am thinking maybe we should lock them in the basement and not let them return...She still have a brother and sister with their families there...I am hoping someday we can convince them to come here...They are a stubborn and proud people and have said they are staying no matter what...I wish at a minimum, they would sent us the children!
Yes. They do need better leaders. If they must acquire the land from whites it is far better to not give it to blacks directly.
A good plan would be to make offers to buy. Some farmers will sell every year. Prohibit the seller from buying farm property for a decade. Then the government sensibly divides large holdings into parcels and sells the parcels by auction, Buyers cannot resale for a decade, or buy another parcel for a decade.
Experience shows that restrictions on land sellers and buyers work because breaking them ruins their title.
When governments give land directly to people the "ins" get the goodies. And who is to say that a black farmer suffered more in the past than a black miner or store clerk. Why should the farmer get a gift paid for by those in the cities?
If you object, saying a plan must be totally fair then return to your dreams. Governments are not totally fair and SA is going to take this land - we just don't know how decently.
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Technically, the SA economy is doing fine. The only blemish is umemployment, but the official figures don't allow for the self-employed, which would make those figures less frightening than the current 35%. However, the longer term problem is the same as that which faced the rest of Africa, namely the continuation of sound economic policy while the political system does not back it up. The people of SA is no better off after 10 years of non-white rule, in most cases they are worse off. The rampant crime rate, again a result of weakness from the politicians, AIDS and other politcal blunders will ensure things don't get better soon. Already in this fiscal year, social spending (basic needs such as water, electricity, healthcare and education) is up to 61% of the budget, up from 58% last year, and continues an upward trend for the last 5 years.
As for the land grabs, eventually the ANC government will give in, probably just before the next elections. They have already passed a law, without much fanfare, that allows them to confiscate any land if it is deemed in public interest.
You are most certainly wrong and don't know many Africans to say that. Have a nice evening.
Talk about foreigners meddling in things. Look at the French and how they are undermining a christian government to install the muslims just so they can get cheap cocoa. I do think that people who had land stolen from them should get their property back. And please... even the apartheid era government kept good enough records to show all the land they stole from blacks and everyone else back when they were enforcing apartheid. I just love it when Americans who claim to embrace freedom don't embrace it for everyone else.
"You are most certainly wrong"
... you're being too nice to this shmo!
"and don't know many Africans to say that"
... why is that not a suprise?
"Have a nice evening."
... Don't you know? "Nice evenings" ended with the glorious apartheid state utopia?
/sarcasm
and now that my blood pressure's sky-high, I need to get back to sleep.
I'm not sure how you figure this. Apartheid was a 20th century phenomenon. Most white land-holdings in SA are considerably older than apartheid. Some of the white land-holding families have been there 300 years.
I'm referring to the land stolen from people during the Repopulation era, esp. the BoKaap.
We all have to suffer fools. I most certainly am not going to let the ignorant make me sick again.
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