[SanFranDan]

(Nelson Mandela: His party made promises to redistribute white-owned farmland to black people) Hmmmm Remind you of anyone whose wife just vacationed in South Africa? Pigford much?

[catman67]

Sucker move!!

Government confiscates land from Whites.
Government redistributes said land to Blacks.
Blacks sell lands back to original White owners!

repeat ad nauseum

[afraidfortherepublic]

But, is the land now ruined? I have a friend who grew up in Zimbadwe (Southern Rhodesia) which once was the bread basket of Africa. nce the land has been turned over to inexperienced owners, it grows up in brush and is no longer suitable for farming. It’s going to take a lot of pioneering to turn it back into farmland.

[saganite]

Well that didn’t work! Next step will be to go all Zimbabwe on those white bastids.

[EyeGuy]

“Black farmers in S. Africa sell land given them by government back to white farmers”

####

Government has nothing to “give” unless it first steals it from the citizenry.

Were the white farmers paid true market value by the government, for the land THEY improved and made productive?

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

When the Dutch settled SA there were no blacks there, just some bushmen.

When Shaka began his Zulu expansion in the north, blacks then began to flood SA.

So, who originally settled SA?

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

In the US, on a smaller scale, we call this “food stamp churning:.

[CodeToad]

“given to them by the government”

That was taken from white farmers by force! I hope South Africa STARVES!

[BitWielder1]

I'd say this is a case of the free market correcting a government mistake.

If you don't know how to run a farm, or don't have the resources to do so, then why not sell the land to someone who does (and optionally ask for employment as a condition of the sale).
It works.

[EyeGuy]

White farmer to black parasite:

“I’ll pay you the same thing you paid the government x 20%”.

....snicker....

[expat1000]

Social engineering - ain’t it grand?

[LetsRok]

Didn’t this occur here in America after the Civil War. Blacks were given Hilton Head Island, SC as reparations for slavery. The blacks ended up selling the island back to white developers.

[GOPJ]

It's not going to end well ... blacks are going to be unhappy discovering once again whites are able to make money farming ... while they couldn't figure out the 'trick' to make that happen.

[muir_redwoods]

Sort of a farm buy-back program like our gun buy-backs. Just as bright too.

[douginthearmy]

Government has nothing to “give” unless it first steals it from the citizenry.

True to an extent, but government can 'steal' from non-citizens as well. It seems to me, the black government did the same thing the white government did. They took the land by superior force.

The white settlers acted under government authority. Government claimed the land and then doled it out. Then business went on as usual selling and buying in private markets. When the black government took the land by force, it performed a near identical function. Now the blacks there are legally selling it to whites.

The only question I have is why are the whites buying the land back. Do they have some reasonable expectation that the government won't take it again? And if they do expect to lose the land again, do they expect to make enough profit in the interim to make it worthwhile. I have been told by a friend who lived there that white South Africa was an amazing and beautiful place.

[ccmay]

This reminds me of some lines from Francisco d’Ancona’s “Money Speech.” (the very best part of Atlas Shrugged).