The Zimbabwe-ification of South Africa? - A change in land policy would wreak havoc on the economy

wsj.com ^ | JULY 16, 2009 | MARIAN L. TUPY and MICHAEL KRANSDORFF

[Tailgunner Joe]

"The road ends here," reads a makeshift sign in the middle of the highway connecting Bulawayo with South Africa. For many miles, the once busy commercial artery between Zimbabwe's second largest town and its main market has simply ceased to exist. Motorists have to wind their way on an improvised gravel path through the open bush. All along the route, they can observe once productive farms lying abandoned and once productive farm workers scavenging for food.

The dilapidated state of infrastructure and widespread poverty are the results of the destruction of property rights and the rule of law by the government of Zimbabwe. Yet South Africa's new Minister of Land Reform and Rural Development, Gugile Nkwinti, clearly has not been to Zimbabwe in recent years. Speaking in parliament late last month, he announced that the ANC government would scrap its current "willing buyer willing seller" land redistribution policy, which allows the government to acquire land only at a market price and only with the consent of the land owner, and replace it with "less costly, alternative methods of land acquisition." The new policy will almost certainly include some form of land expropriation that could spell disaster for the South African economy. ....

Even when the government has succeeded in distributing land, much of it has ceased to be economically viable. According to the government's own statistics, some 50% of land reform projects have failed. A once thriving potato farm in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands is now a makeshift soccer field. A former tea estate in Magoebaskloof in Limpopo has become an overgrown forest. The list goes on.

Many of the new land owners have no farming or management skills. They have nothing invested in the land because the government gave them their farms for free after buying the land....

[RC2]

Not to worry, we’ll just send them more of our tax money to feed those in power.

[Tarpon]

Isn’t the new national anthem for Zimbabwe “now we can all starve together”. Zimbabwe was the breadbasket of Africa, then they took the farms and gave them to the ... Proving, owning the farm doesn’t make you a farmer.

Carter’s Mugabe is a real tyrant. Carter should be proud.

Not to take anything from the Iranian Mullahs and their dictatorship.

[Tarpon]

Watch the crop yields drop with the cold ...

[MGMSwordsman]

Hey, I’ve got an idea. Why doesn’t Comrade Zero go and be President in South Africa?

[GeronL]

Not working in Venezuela either....

... wonder if its coming here?

[BwanaNdege]

Why would South Africa want a Hawaiian president?

[GonzoGOP]

This will make it much easier for the PLA to take them over. Heck when the Chinese come they will be welcomed as liberators. Sure the people of Africa will have no freedom, but at least their Chinese masters will know how to keep food on the table.

[ridesthemiles]

This is what can happen here if NObama isn’t stopped.

Atlas Shrugged will have to be printed again.

[y6162]

ObaMugabe is taking “how to” notes.

[LeonardFMason]

Getting EXACTLY what they deserve. Could not care less.

[rmlew]

Revanchism and grievance is going to kill the only semi-competent African country. But don’t worry are about increasing disparities. Our Kenyan-Marxist hybrid is doing it to us too.

[VR-21]

Speaking in parliament late last month, he announced that the ANC government would scrap its current "willing buyer willing seller" land redistribution policy, which allows the government to acquire land only at a market price and only with the consent of the land owner, and replace it with "less costly, alternative methods of land acquisition."

Damn if those 'weaselwords' don't have a familiar ring to them.

[John Will]

You’re assuming that the PLA will not do something similar to what the Spanish did to the Americas.

[GonzoGOP]

You’re assuming that the PLA will not do something similar to what the Spanish did to the Americas

I'm assuming that the Chinese will do EXACTLY what the Spanish did when they came to Mexico. The Aztec were brutal, cruel, and kept the other tribes in a state of impoverished, slavery imposed through the constant threat of brutal human sacrifice. When the Spanish arrived they were able to quickly raise an army of locals to back them against the Aztec. The locals were only too happy to see their Aztec tormentors cut down by Spanish steel or burnt at the stake. And seeing the Aztec temples, where so many of their sons and daughters had had their beating hearts carved out torn down and replaced with Spanish cathedrals. It was only later that the natives found that their new Spanish masters were not much better, and possibly worse, that the old Aztec ones.

[John Will]

I was referring to the Massive population collapse followed by the massive amount of European genetics/settlers into Latin America.

[GonzoGOP]

That too. Heck they need room for all of those Chinese. Let the Africans wipe themselves out and then move in and take over. Lots of raw materials, no capacity to resist either financially or militarily. And the Zims and SAs have managed to PO all of their western allies so when the time comes nobody will come to their aid. Its a perfect fit for the Chinese.