Barry Streek Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs Thoko Didiza wants provincial land MECs to consider taking advice from the Zimbabwean government on farming policy. Didiza convened a workshop of provincial MECs this week to discuss an offer of support from her Zimbabwean counterpart to help South Africans understand what is involved in helping to set up new black farmers.
“Following my recent visit to Zimbabwe on the 2nd August 2000, I am delighted to mention that through my interaction with my Zimbabwean counterpart I was able to garner their support and assistance on the issue of helping us to understand the realities of implementation of farmer settlement,” she wrote to the provincial MECs of agriculture. The Democratic Party’s representative on agriculture, Andries Botha, said Didiza’s statement about Zimbabwean support for farmer settlement was “absolutely ominous”. “One could construe that she has been up there and wants to share her experiences but she is not saying that. She wants ‘support’. What support do we need from Zimbabwe for settlement in South Africa?” The Zimbabwean government has sanctioned invasions of commercial farms, and has embarked on a strategy of annexing farms both in the run-up to and after the country’s general election in June. The invasions and seizures of farms appeared initially to be a mere electoral ploy on the part of President Robert Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF, which has dawdled over land reform for 20 years. Her views confirmed the DP’s view that President Thabo Mbeki’s handling of the farm occupations in Zimbabwe was spineless because he could find no fault with Mugabe’s theft of property, Botha said. “It is becoming clearer by the day that the increasingly irresponsible actions of the African National Congress can only be stopped with snake oil at the ballot box,” Botha said.