Mystery of ANC proposals
PERHAPS there is a notion in the African National Congress that governing is something like running a trade union, but it is something of a mystery why the government so often feels the need to make extreme proposals which are sure to alienate the private sector and dent confidence — but which it has no real intention of implementing.
So it seems with Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti’s proposals to turn 50% of commercial farms over to farm workers.
As this newspaper predicted a couple of months ago, the 50% proposal seems to have been no more than a negotiating position — which may be why, now that the damage is done, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe made a point of making nice noises to commercial farmers at a conference this week.
“We could agree that the 50% sharing of land between farmers and workers is not a good idea,” he said, before going on to emphasise that if farmers did not like that idea, they should propose an alternative way to effect transformation in the agricultural sector.
The sector is certainly in need of transformation to make it more inclusive of black farmers. And while many white farmers no doubt have been reluctant to change, the government’s own efforts so far have not done much either.
The focus has tended to be on transferring land to black people. But ownership on its own achieves absolutely nothing to support viable farming by the black farmers or to create a new class of black commercial farmers. The people best placed to provide the technical and managerial advice and support to new black farmers are SA’s white commercial farmers, many of whom run very large and successful enterprises. They need to be a central part of designing and implementing any strategy to transform the sector.
The 50% proposal was constitutionally dodgy to start with, since the plan was that government would not pay the farmers for the stakes but would hold the money itself.
That, and the controversy which greeted the proposals, may explain why Mr Mantashe made the effort to soothe farmers this week. But while it was good to see him and his party accept a dose of reality, one hopes his comments also reflect a genuine commitment to finding solutions to SA’s agricultural issues jointly with commercial farmers.