There is a lot misunderstood by people, and a lot hidden on this evolving situation.
When you look at a map of the country (massive in size)...only around 13-percent of it is agriculturally fertile land (crops, vineyards, cattle, orchards). For a fair percentage of this land (no one can state factually the amount)...it’s only productive if you do irrigation. Most of the orchard products are shipped outside of the country (to Europe) and makes a fair amount of profit for the tax revenue bucket there.
Last month, I spent two weeks in the country (east and west), and talked to around a dozen folks (black and white)...none political and none having any big status.
What a couple point out is that while this chatter is about preventing a repeat of Zimbabwe’s mess from two decades ago...no one says that the farms will be seized (without paying off the owners) and splitting the farms up into two or three acre lots like Mugabe did in Zimbabwe. The ANC Party guys pushing this agenda, in fact, avoid the topic of who gets the land or breaking it up.
So I had this one African guy (anti-ANC), who thinks that what’ll happen here is that seizures will start, and the farms, orchards and vineyards will go ‘intact’....to ANC-favored family members or friends.
What all of these folks said in passing as well...no one believes anything that the government of South Africa says. They don’t believe the cops, the judges, journalists, or religious figures. If you go out to the western coast...lot of locals/tribal figures are anti-ANC.
My take is that when the seizures start up...most of the vineyard and orchard owners will set fire to their productive assets...destroy the irrigation capability, and make the agricultural capability worthless for at least twenty years. A couple of major banks (they are already in serious financial trouble before this starts up) will fail, and I think Trump will prevent the IMF from saving them. By 2030, I would go and predict the nation breaks up into at least ten countries, and the Western Cape will be the largest of those to survive. Massive exodus of young African men will occur because of a lack of jobs. The land seizure will flip the nation into a mess.
Your post is very interesting. And sad. Anyone who doubts how hard the Afrikaner farmers work should read,”Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight.”
Were you there on business & did you feel safe?
Handing the farms over to ANC cronies means a repeat of Zimbabwe - Mugabe did pretty much the same and the land went permanently fallow because nobody worked the land, at least not in a competent way.
Today, most still do and are rabidly against the damned COMMIE ANC! So there's that.