Rhamarhetoric: Latest land reform plan an honest effort or simply selling more dreams?

We’re 26 years into democracy.

Land reform has been promised in every election cycle, to the point that it became stale until 2013 when an entirely new political party rose to number three, almost exclusively on the single issue of land. It’s no exaggeration to believe that land is a massive issue for us.

But the programmes failed. We were divided on the expropriation issue. Financial settlements were reached and money went missing. Even those proclaiming to be the advocates for uncompensated land transfer have a little VBS cloud looming.

But now, all of a sudden, the government wakes up to find out it has 896 farms it can lease out. How very reassuring.

What’s not reassuring is the story behind it. The president mentioned that land ownership is still concentrated in the hands of the few and since leasing land out isn’t exactly going to do much to change that, they would need to have some other value add to encourage and support emerging black farmers.

Don’t fret though, because training is provided with the lease. It’s just that the training provided is referred to as “basic record keeping”, “basic financial management” and “enterprise development”, whatever that means.

Hopefully I’m mistaken in my estimation that the term “basic” hints at a copy-paste of a Grade 9 applied task titled “How to Run a Tuck Shop”.

But even if the land was transferred and the requisite skills are there, we’ll be lucky if 896 farms can make a noticeable dent in the 15 to 30 million (depending on who you ask) South Africans living in poverty.

Excuse my scepticism, but it does just seem like a rework of BEE, except now it features assets instead of jobs. We know that on paper, it’s meant to be empowering but what we see in reality is that the empowerment really just crafts a new elite, rising at the expense of those stuck in the cycle.

If the training is inadequate or the programme disingenuous, the cycle will just get worse as the hope offered in the beginning turns to debt and the aspirant farmer is plunged further down the pit of despair, only with the added burden of a debt owed to the state.

It’s not like we’re talking small potatoes here. We’ve learned from a number of previously failed ventures just how much farming costs and that not everybody makes a success out of it. This includes, despite what the narrative may have you believe, many of the whities.

So this programme is high risk and potentially high yield, which is why I’m so excited for it.

I’ve been torn on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s commitment to change; specifically whether I buy it or not. This is going to be the perfect litmus test on whether he means business, tangibly.

The 896 farms may be too few to make a significant immediate dent in our poverty rate and probably won’t do anything to quell the fighters in red. That, however, gives a plus shot of being able to maintain a watchful eye and offer purposeful training.

With a whole department dedicated to rural development and land reform, it’s not like we lack the resources to maintain such an oversight.

For all my negativity above, I have to admit that the idea is sound and could work if executed correctly. I mean, I’d go as far as to say this is probably the closest we’ve come to a tangibly good solution to the first step of resolving a resounding land issue.

It makes sense to empower people to a point where they may be able to hold the risk of owning their own farm one day. It makes sense to use vacant land to do that empowering. It makes sense to push for more production rather than replacing the existing producers. It all makes sense… When done correctly.

So, here’s the proposal. If a big majority of these projects go on to be successful, then we know we’re on the right path with leadership that is intent on actually making inroads to alleviate poverty and transform the farming landscape while developing productivity.

If, however, we find ourselves with another Vrede Dairy Farm issue, we’ll need to start admitting that land reform is merely a ploy to remain politically relevant at the expense of the politically repressed.

Richard Anthony Chemaly is an entertainment attorney, radio broadcaster and lecturer of communication ethics.

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