By Charl van Rooyen
This was the warning from John Steenhuisen, Minister of Agriculture, at a farmers’ day held by Nick Serfontein on his farm outside Edenville in the Free State.
He said this in response to a statement by President Donald Trump of the United States, which sent the rumour into the world that South Africa was “seizing land”, committing human rights abuses and “treating certain classes of people very poorly”. Trump consequently suspended all financial aid to South Africa for 90 days while it was investigated.
These statements were in response to changes to the Expropriation Act that enable the state to expropriate land without compensation.
Trump’s announcement quickly dominated social media and misinformation spread, with some people believing that farmers’ land was being taken away. Others with more sober minds tried to argue. Agricultural leaders and politicians eagerly participated in the debates.
Steenhuisen said misinformation like this leads to great uncertainty among farmers and other landowners, and everyone is very nervous. The rumours about the legislation do not improve matters.
“This week We have clearly seen how much uncertainty such statements can cause. I have recently travelled around the country and have not seen or heard of any signs of land expropriation anywhere. That misinformation must have originated somewhere.”
Farmers will feel the consequences
“We need to understand that farmers are the victims of such stories and what a huge impact it has on international markets. The farmers are the people who will feel the cold winds of a slowdown in the agricultural sector if the rumours continue to cause damage. No one should believe the stories that there is large-scale expropriation of land. There is still legislation that protects property rights and there will be no large-scale expropriation of land without compensation. People should rather look at the facts and not listen to misinformation, because it has a huge impact.”
Serfontein said he was very concerned about the new land reform legislation. “I know productive land will not be taken away, but the legislation is upsetting landowners. How many people understand the objectives of the law? It is going to hurt the economy and cause a lot of uncertainty.”
The land reform agency has done nothing after four years of existence. “We cannot wait any longer. I beg the government to wake up.”
Serfontein also referred to Ramaphosa’s State of the Nartion address on 6 February, saying that agriculture was actually only mentioned once. He is disappointed by that, because the president did not say anything about allocating land to farmers.
