Return of old political ideologies?

TAU SA expressed its disappointment on President Jacob Zuma's comment that the principle of willing buyer/seller is not working and that a more pragmatic solution has to be found (see here).

Mr Ben Marais, President of TAU SA, said farmers were initially slightly optimistic about positive statements by Mr Zuma and the Minister of Agriculture. "Sadly it seems as if Mr Zuma falls back into the political rhetoric which caused lots of tension under the old government, after his first hundred days in office. Minister Tina Joemat-Petterson's remarks about less than ten percent of agricultural land being owned by blacks, seems as if she operates on the area of land reform (see here). Minister Joemat-Petterson's statistics about black owned land is under dispute, as there has not been a full land audit up to now," says Mr Marais.

The principle of willing buyer/seller is a free market principle, and is world wide recognized as measurement on property rights, and also to determine the price of land. The cost of land cannot rise if there are no willing buyers. Another principle of the free market is that a willing buyer also needs to be a potential buyer.

"Mr Zuma's remarks on a more pragmatic solution, is very vague as he did not give more particulars on it. TAU SA does not hope that this will lead to the creation of any laws which will force farmers unwillingly from their farms, and at an unacceptable price. Such laws will have the same effect as expropriation, which was another highly emotional issue during the Mbeki governance."

Mr Marais said that recent information revealed that of the land that has been reallocated in terms of land reform, 49% is not productive in terms of commercial farming. "Government needs to make its priority firstly to see to it that this land is productive, instead of frightening possible investors by making suspicious remarks on global accepted and successful economic principles."

Statement issued by the Transvaal Agricultural Union, August 18 2009

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