Former journalist and political activist, writer and farmer, Moeletsi Mbeki, brother of former president, Thabo Mbeki, never fails to intrigue with his views. His unashamed criticism of the ANC leadership in particular draws equal praise and disapproval. His recent interview with Farmer’s Weekly<\ital> magazine was typically candid, direct and, at times, biting. But his insights on South African agriculture and land reform demand attention.
Former journalist and political activist, writer and farmer, Moeletsi Mbeki, brother of former president, Thabo Mbeki, never fails to intrigue with his views. His unashamed criticism of the ANC leadership in particular draws equal praise and disapproval. His recent interview with Farmer’s Weekly<\ital> magazine was typically candid, direct and, at times, biting. But his insights on South African agriculture and land reform demand attention.
The kernel of Mbeki’s assessment of South Africa’s current land reform policy is the distinction he makes between two elements of the process. “Land restitution,” he said, “is a political settlement. It’s righting the wrongs of blacks evicted by the 1913 Land Act, placating the grievances of someone who may not know or care about land any more.” His term for this is “buying peace”.
The other element he speaks about is land redistribution. Mbeki sees this as the side of land reform which is really about politicians buying votes. “In their minds, the black electorate wants land, so they make themselves look good by redistributing it.”
But Mbeki’s displeasure with this thinking is patent. He called it “propaganda from the old days,” and in a scathing but succinct conclusion, argued that: “If the black electorate wanted land, they could buy it like they buy houses, but they don’t.”
Following years in exile with the ANC in Tanzania, Mbeki entered the journalism profession in Zimbabwe, where he spent much of his time covering agriculture and the emerging black commercial farmers of the time – before, as he puts it, “Mugabe destroyed the economy”. Based on this experience he makes a poignant comment on the lack of emphasis on skills in South Africa’s land-reform programme.
While covering farming in Zimbabwe, Mbeki was taken by the fact that “emerging black commercial farmers all had agricultural degrees and diplomas”. His criticism of the lack of comparable training among South Africa’s emerging farmers could not be more apt in a time when farming needs to produce more and more from given (sometimes diminishing) amounts of land.
Mbeki also lambastes wealth redistribution in a broader context than just land. “Alongside corruption, wealth redistribution has driven de-industrialisation and affected buying patterns,” he said. Here he cites the drop in manufacturing from 30% of GDP in the 1980s to half of that in 2009. Again Mbeki provides a cutting summary for the situation: “It’s giving money away to buy votes”.
Having broken the system down, Mbeki suggests a solution. For him, a partner in a large-scale farming outfit, the answer is clear: “[W]e need to move towards commercial management. For example, 5 million or 6 million cattle in the former homelands could be brought into the commercial market.”
He cites the demise of genuine peasant farming in South Africa to add weight to this free-market approach.
