As we inch closer towards elections, my dad and I are intensifying our debates around policy issues and the future of South Afrika (of course, he is trying to influence my vote). Todays debate was about the land question in South Afrika. We were debating the more uncomfortable issues around land reform, one of them being the issue of restitution. My dad and I agree that land is the fundamental struggle in our country, but we were debating the model that we believe is best suitable. Two models arose: land expropriation without compensation as proposed by the EFF and land redistribution and restitution as employed by the ANC. We first looked at the advantages of both. In the case of expropriation, the advantage is that a historical injustice will be addressed, and that the process would be quicker. In the case of redistribution and restitution, the advantage is that the model is systematic and methodical. A formal process is followed. But both models present greater threats: the ANCs model has failed largely because most of the claimants settle for monetary payments as opposed to land ownership. As statistics stand, 88 000 claimants of land have opted for receiving money, some as little as R10 000 per family in certain communities, thereby perpetuating White land ownership. The danger with the EFF model is that it is fashioned around an example that is inappropriate: Zimbabwe. My dad and I looked at why the expropriation model made sense in Zimbabwe. Firstly, two-thirds of the country is rural. This means the majority of Zimbabwean people rely on land for survival; for employment, habitat, food security and the sustainability of their countrys economic development. Also, Zimbabwean people study Agriculture from primary level, and so from a young age, they are capacitated with the necessary skills to manage and run a farm. South Afrika on the other hand is a highly industrialised country characterised by urban migration. The Agricultural sector has also been seeing a steady decline in terms of contribution to the GDP, and currently hovers below 10%. Furthermore, South Afrika has failed to invest in agricultural education. Agriculture is not a subject in our schools and even at tertiary level, it attracts mainly White students. Colleges of Agriculture were allowed to fall apart for many years and as a result, we have not produced sufficient or even capacitated qualified land and agrarian science experts, in particular Black ones. This corroborates president Mugabes argument as posed on People of the South that the Zimbabwe model would not work in South Afrika. Our temporary conclusion to this lengthy debate is that the land question cannot be addressed outside the question of education, but that the question of education cannot be addressed within a neo-liberal developmental path. The fact that our people are choosing money over land is an indication of a deep crisis of lack of education (not necessarily conventional education, but education about political economy). My dad believes that the land question can only be addressed by the ANC, and that part of political education of its members serves as a breakthrough into educating our society because the education can then filter to communities, including those still claiming land. I believe that the ANC government is itself a barrier to addressing the land question by not introducing targetted investments in those of us (Blacks) who are studying towards Geography/Agrarian Sciences degrees, and that the EFF addresses this question correctly. The debate was not fully concluded, and will continue during the week...
Posted on: Sun, 20 Apr 2014 11:24:25 +0000
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