Hating the white Africans - OPINION. James Myburgh examines why dubious racial Land Audit figures were so widely circulated in the West Early this year the African National Congress and Economic Freedom Fighters sought to motivate for a constitutional amendment to allow for land expropriation without compensation (EWC) on the basis of the results of the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform’s recent Land Audit.
This found that 72% of farms and agricultural holdings owned by individuals in South Africa were owned by whites, while only 3.5% were owned by black Africans. OP-ED: Land expropriation, food security and poverty eradication – some observations from the Eastern Cape. REVEALED: How Zuma planned to capture the country. RW Johnson: Why Zuma's ANC turning to racism, fuelling anti-white rhetoric - BizNews.com. If South Africa possesses finer political analysts than RW “Bill” Johnson, I’ve yet to discover them.
The former anti-Apartheid activist, Rhodes Scholar and Oxford Don was the first to highlight financial risks caused by President Jacob Zuma’s network of patronage. Last year’s masterful book “How Long Will SA Survive” predicted the country’s credit rating is fast heading for junk, to be followed with bankruptcy and eventually a bailout by the International Monetary Fund.
That message is now being universally heeded, the credit rating becoming a rallying cry for reformers. He remains optimistic the nation will emerge stronger from these trials – but warns the next few years will be extremely turbulent, especially for everyone’s favourite target, the white sector of the population. Major reason, Johnson argues, is a ruling political party ill-equipped to cope with the vote-eroding path it has chosen, so has started to employ crude racist tactics to shore up sliding popularity. Why South African students have turned on their parents’ generation. One of Chumani Maxwele’s stronger childhood memories is of an aeroplane.
Not one he rode, but one he heard flying over his dusty village in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, not far from Nelson Mandela’s birthplace. Maxwele, the son of a poor miner, used to play football with his friends in a field behind his house. Don’t let chicken wars get in the way of Agoa. IN RECENT weeks, chicken producers in the US have reportedly called for their government to withdraw South Africa’s duty-free benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa).
This comes at a time when Agoa, the centrepiece of US commercial relations with sub-Saharan Africa, is under review before its expiry on September 30 next year. It should be noted that, aside from the views of US chicken producers, most US business interests and associations have supported Agoa’s extension and South Africa’s continued inclusion in the programme. Indeed, the review is likely to demonstrate that South Africa and the US have strong, mutually beneficial bilateral trade and investment relations overall.
DA misunderstands EFF’s purpose. THE conduct of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in Parliament has been widely criticised by all comers over the past month or two.
The general thrust of that criticism seems to be that the party’s representatives do not properly understand or exercise parliamentary protocol and, if they want to be more effective, they need to become better, more traditional parliamentarians. This, however, is to profoundly misunderstand the EFF brand and its purpose. It might only be a pseudo-revolutionary movement but the EFF’s goal is not to comply, it is to disrupt. Expecting it to fit into a predetermined mould is to expect chaos to fit into a science laboratory beaker. Farms are dying. Of the 276 000 farming units in Gauteng, including large-scale and small intensive farming units, 70% lie unused as farms - most standing idle or being used as scrapyards and second-hand car dealerships.
Emerging farmers are among the most squeezed, with hundreds quitting, and claiming that the government has "abandoned" them, with no skills and little access to markets. The revelations come at a time when Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti has published controversial proposals requiring commercial farmers to hand over half their land to farmworkers. Agri-Gauteng CEO Derrick Hanekom said Gauteng was in big trouble with abandoned land.
"Land carryover from old to new owners was done haphazardly... land was given to communities who are not farmers and who, because of a lack of skills, are unable to farm. "We are desperately trying to organise agriculture, with a big focus on micro-farmers who, if properly assisted, can produce large yields. Share. Miners should be offered shareholding schemes, says Holomisa. Striking platinum mineworkers should possibly be offered shares as part of negotiations in the long-term, said United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa.
Addressing the Cape Town Press Club in his personal capacity, he said mining had not benefited the entire population and needed to go "back to basics". Offering company shares to workers would allow them to participate meaningfully in the economy. He also proposed that employers make an offer of goodwill by paying back the salaries workers had missed by striking.
This might encourage miners to suspend the strike in a give-and-take fashion. "...We may consider for the next three or four months to suspend the strike pending the finalisation of what is on the table already," he said. Careful, Zumaville planners: Msholozi is watching you. Click here to submit your questions about Zumaville ahead of our live video chat with the M&G's Phillip de Wet.
It's not going to be easy to plan Zumaville, the new town due to be developed just 3.2km away from President Jacob Zuma's homestead in rural KwaZulu-Natal, potential bidders for the planning contract were told on Friday. Www.rhdhv.co.za/media/201210/NSGC/Appendix G - Nkandla Feasibility Report - Executive Summary and Supporti~1.pdf. State of the Nation 2014 #SONA2014. Three months before the elections President Jacob Zuma focused on the country's economic challenges and the achievements of 20 years of ANC rule in his state-of-the-nation address on Thursday.
Zuma said the country needed to boost economic growth to five percent and warned that strife in the mining sector should not be allowed to destroy an industry that employed more than half-a-million people and contributed R20 billion in tax revenue. "We need a mining sector that works. Mining employs over half-a-million people. It is the biggest earner of foreign exchange in our country. " He believed both the mining industry and trade unions were aware it was in their interest to resolve their dispute and government's intervention was yielding progress. Www.urbanlandmark.org.za/downloads/2055_15_State_of_the_Nation_2004-2005~16112004110459AM.pdf. Union slams state land ownership findings. Cape Town - A credible land audit should take place before the land claims process is reopened, farmers' union Tau SA said on Thursday.
Ownership figures released in the much-awaited land audit in February were not reliable, union president Louis Meintjes said in a statement. "Utmost dissatisfaction was expressed about the uncertainty of the land audit, especially with regard to state-owned land, during TAU SA’s general council meeting in Pretoria. "The process was not transparent and therefore no value could be attached to the audit. " Meintjes claimed the figures, released by Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti, contradicted those he announced previously. No clear owners of huge tracts of SA land. That is the finding of what was due to be a definitive audit of land ownership released, in abbreviated form, on Thursday, after it was approved by Cabinet earlier this week.
The department of rural development and land reform, which was responsible for the massive audit, said full details of the findings would be available shortly, but could not be more specific by Thursday afternoon. The audit provides a breakdown of land ownership by type, showing how much land is owned by private individuals, organisations, traditional authorities and different levels of government, but it makes no finding on the race of the owners. DuPont bets on Africa’s global food role with Pannar Seed deal. MULTINATIONAL DuPont’s acquisition on Wednesday of a majority stake in South Africa’s Pannar Seed signals the increasing pace of the new race for Africa as the continent’s role in feeding a global population of more than 9-billion by 2050 becomes clear.
Africa has by far most of the world’s unused land available for agriculture. In addition, as DuPont Pioneer president Paul Schickler put it this week: "Africa represents a significant opportunity for improved productivity. Africa is the new frontier, with 1-billion people to be added to its population by 2050, an expanding middle class and natural assets such as soil and climate. " African average grain yields are less than two tonnes a hectare, "about one third of what is achieved in other developing regions and only one fifth of yields in developed countries.
With 35-million hectares available for maize production, Africa represents a significant opportunity for improved productivity. " Informal settlement numbers almost unchanged since 1994: Manuel. "This is in spite of the fact that government has provided nearly three million houses during the period," he said in a speech prepared for delivery at the 2013 metropolis annual meeting in Sandton, Johannesburg. Urban populations in Africa had almost trebled in the past 50 years, and according to the Census 2011 results, Johannesburg increased by 1.2 million people between 2001 and 2011.
In his 2012 state-of-the-city address, Johannesburg mayor Parks Tau put the city's population at 3.6 million. "This significant rate of growth, the largest in our South African cities, is a signal of a trend, rather than of the uniqueness of Johannesburg," Manuel said. Most of the urbanisation was taking place in informal settlements or slums. "What this means is that people who migrate to the cities find city life alienating in all forms. " People were unable to find suitable accommodation in the city closer to their work, and resorted to informal activities on its physical and economic periphery.
SA in the dumps at the pumps - but no one's to blame. Llusive tendering costs construction companies over one billion rand. "The Competition Commission... has reached settlement with 15 construction firms for collusive tendering in contravention of section 4(1)(b) of the Competition Act. The firms have agreed to penalties collectively totalling R1.46bn," it said in a statement. The Born Frees. Clem Sunter At a breakfast this week, I was introduced to a new term "the Born Frees", being all those young people who were born in 1994 or thereafter in South Africa. The time of testing begins as Agang's Ramphele gloves up. DA takeover of ANC-led Oudtshoorn illegal: speaker. King 'smokes' Zuma. A few days before his latest tirade, Dalindyebo referred to Zuma as "a nonsensical Zulu boy" at a meeting of AbaThembu at the Bumbane Great Palace, in Eastern Cape.
Let's vote out the ANC - Xhosa king. NEWS ANALYSIS: ‘Broad church’ of DA could keep ANC in check. Home. UBUNTU Party Lawyer tied up at gunpoint while files and computer data are removed. 'Ubuntu' judgment criticised. Judge Monde Samelaset aside Xolani Matiwane's sentence and ruled that he be released immediately. Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe concurred in the judgment. ‘Cop vans’ linked to robbery - Crime & Courts. Raymondt Dicks and his son Jimmy. No proof of cops helping robbers - police. Johannesburg - There was no evidence to suggest that police officers were involved in a robbery at the home of a Johannesburg legal adviser, police said on Thursday. Downloads.newera.org.za/NewERA/PlumsteadCase.pdf. Lusikisiki, Eastern Cape, South Africa Photos. Tea plantation faces collapse after worker rampage. South Africa's last tea farm tries to bounce back after costly pay dispute.
Award winner: Biofuel plant backfires on community. A failure of our society on many levels. SA service delivery exceptional: Zuma. 'Only Malema cares' - Lonmin miners spurn Zuma's task team. R16 070 is our demand: Amplats workers. Mining rethink needed. South African Worker's (and World's) Constitutional Crises. SA's economic outlook dims after mining unrest. Armchair revolution. Marikana: When neoliberalism negates human rights.
Taking their toll: How a cosy club dominates SA's toll road empire. Malema's tightening noose is too convenient. Juju no longer so jolly as he faces a sea of troubles. Malema: The ANC should fear a man with nothing to lose. Analysis: The meaning of Julius Malema and the long-term realignment of the left. Moral of the Juju puppet show. Get rich or lie trying: Why ANC millionaire Julius Malema posed as a radical. The state: The system is broken and must be fixed. Government blows R33bn on advisers. No service delivery without consultants: Engineering group. Key policy discussions on the cards for Mangaung. Editorial: Feel it. The day of reckoning is here. Five reasons for South Africans to celebrate Mangaung. ANC puts finishing touches to Mangaung venue. Profiles of the top six ANC nominees. Mangaung defeat of nationalists leaves ANC in far better shape. Zuma is above mere middle-class morality.
Nkandla splurge a betrayal of taxpayers and constitution: iLIVE. DA inspection of Nkandla a violation of president's privacy: ANC. DA files for court interdict for motion of no confidence. EXPOSED: How Zuma got off the hook. Nkandla: Documents call Zuma's bluff. Nkandlagate: The impact on Mangaung and beyond. Nkandla**** shall now be known as Nkandla Palace.
Zuma tapes a 'secret' Something rotten in the ANC state. Free State housing plans under threat, millions missing. King wants R17m more. R1-billion Zimbabwe loan controversial but strategic. Satu: Swaziland will be a democracy. The man and the myth: A portrait of Mandela as currency. Zuma, Mandela and the new South Africa. African economies to see robust growth: IMF. SA could come short playing the numbers game. Grants are bleeding SA white and only perpetuate poverty. Shotgun approach hurts co-ops. Break the resource curse and share the spoils of mining. Government lines up 18 infrastructure projects. Spending without skills is futile. Kickstart National Development Plan with vigour: Ramaphosa. Finally some good news for rural schoolchildren. Dorpie gets R400m airport. SA introduces new tax incentives for energy savings. Development zones get a shove. PetroSA’s Karoo shale-gas estimate ‘far lower’