Since the summit, farmers have been under added pressure to accommodate land reform. Do they need to change their approach?
Land reform is a concern, but we are more worried about economic circum-stances, as they are our biggest limiting factor. The big question we should ask is how new farmers can survive in the current environment if old farmers are struggling to make a living.
Won’t white farmers have to make serious sacrifices, such as dropping farm prices, in the cause of reform?
The common view out there, that white farmers alone should take res-ponsibility for land reform, is wrong. We are a small sector in this country that also has the right to an economic existence. If the sector has to make compromises to accommodate land reform, individual farmers cannot be expected to carry the burden alone.
Yes, they can contribute to meeting some of the targets, but land reform is something that all of South Africa’s citizens should contribute to, because it is in everyone’s interest that it should succeed. Food production is not only the baby of the agricultural sector, it touches everyone in South Africa — and if production suffers, the whole country suffers.
There is a perception that farmers got their land illegally. We are not living in the 18th century any more. Farmers acquired their land through a process of economic activity.
Do you feel strongly enough about South Africa’s first restitution expropriation case to take it to the Constitutional Court?
It is too early to say whether we will get involved or not. But we are concerned about some of the ethics in the Visser case. From what we have seen, it does not look as though the case is legitimate. If the minister is going to expropriate farms that should not be under claim, it leaves us very worried.
Do you feel the pace of land reform is adequate?
Land reform is the vision of the government. It set the original targets. Now it has discovered that the pace of restitution is not fast enough. But it should stop blaming farmers; the truth is that it is struggling with administrative capacity.
International case studies have shown that if you want to engage in sustainable land reform, you have to do it thoroughly and legally. If you do it too fast, it is catastrophic. Zim-babwe happened because the country did not have a thorough land reform programme. You also have to identify farmers who are passionate about farming for transformation.
But statistics show that most of South Africa’s farmland is still in white hands.
Land is not the be-all and end-all of measuring transformation in our sector. The AgriBEE charter has seven points with which it measures transformation. A lot has changed in our sector in 10 years.
Nkuzi Development Association recently released a shocking report on farm evictions. Is AgriSA doing anything to discourage illegal evictions?
We questioned Nkuzi’s statistics and the methodology of the report. It says more people were evicted than there were farm workers on farms. That does not make sense.
The new legislation being prepared will make it almost impossible to evict people from farms.We have always encouraged our members to follow the legal route, as in the Modderklip case.
How is your relationship with the government?
We have good relations with the presidential working group on agriculture, but a difficult relationship with the Department of Labour. The minister is very unsympathetic to the realities of farm labour, and Minister of Land Thoko Didiza is listening to the negative arguments made by land activists.
We have come a long way in transforming our sector and are hoping to show the government the extent of our transformation at the conference.