Farm ownership by blacks on the rise

A LAND audit by farm lobbying group Agri SA has indicated ownership by black farmers has increased in most-fertile provinces. This report tells us that if land reform is implemented correctly it can have positive results for both South Africa and abroad and boost our investor confidence.

According to the report white farmers own almost three-quarters of South Africa’s agricultural land, even after 23 years of government efforts to redistribute land to the black majority. Some 73.3 percent of agricultural land is owned by whites, down from 85.1 percent in 1994, the year South Africa first held democratic elections, the newspaper reported.

Black ownership has increased markedly in some of the country’s most fertile provinces. Black farmers own 74 percent of the land in KwaZulu-Natal and 52 percent in Limpopo, City Press reported.

Of course, further progress must be made with agricultural land reform and a proper land audit must be done and published. If land reform is realised, South Africa could present a more humane, just, peaceful, prosperous and democratic face to the world. Land ownership is a social right, so people can grow their own food.

Landlessness causes poverty; hence the majority of black people live in grinding poverty.

Surely we cannot expect harmony and proper economic growth when these basic human rights have not been addressed. TSHEPO DIALE NKWE ESTATE