Zuma says Zimbabwe style farm seizures will not happen in SA - hardly a ringing assurance!

Julius Malema is crystal clear what he really wants done with the white owned farms; kick out the white owners and give the farms to the few black ruling elite just as Mugabe has done in Zimbabwe. President Zuma and the rest of the ANC government have argued that they will not do “anything to harm the national economy”. That is wish-washy, to say the least, because they never said how such a policy would harm the economy.

“We cannot have a Zimbabwean situation in SA. We're saying we should do things within the law," explained President Zuma. Well that should sure make the position as clear as mud!

Malema and company will have no problem with that: “Go straight ahead Mr President,” they would say, “enact the law!” Mugabe did enact some laws but in the heat of the looting and to make a one-finger statement to the West, all the laws were disregarded.

Zimbabwe’s lawless and often violent land seizures did hurt the country’s economy badly but that was largely because agricultural production plummeted soon after Mugabe and his cronies seized the farms. They did not get the expected the bumper crops and fat cattle because, besides the land, one must also have the farming skills, the dedication and be prepared to work hard. “Munda hauzvirimi!” as one would say in Shona.

Malema has already said in SA the blacks who will get the seized farms should have formal training first. In the case of Zimbabwe, the lack farming skills was not even the half of it. Having to work hard was and still is the biggest stumbling block. Mugabe and his cronies have never done a honest day’s work for three decades, all their wealth was fleecing the public direct or indirectly as a public worker or from some corrupt activity. The white farms were just another national asset for them to loot and that they did. Even when it was evident that falling agricultural production was causing economic melt down; the looting continued unabated. Mugabe and his cronies did not care.

If property rights are disregarded in dealing with the land issue; then nothing is safe, investors know that. President Zuma’s failure to defend property rights robustly in his dealings with Mugabe and Malema has left people in no doubt he does not care about property rights nor the damage land seizures will inflict on the SA economy.

White SA farmers are set to lose their farms regardless of the certain damage this will do to SA’s economy. The only questions to be settled are when and whether the process will orderly or just as chaotic as happened in Zimbabwe!