According to Milton Friedman, one of the great economists of the 20th century, “One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results”.
Three Dutch members of parliament reiterated their concerns about farm attacks and the ANC government’s planned expropriation without compensation in a series of questions put to the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stef Blok.
The social and economic crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated South Africa’s fiscal crisis. But the origins of the fiscal crisis are deeper. It is a structural crisis that will define public policy over the years ahead.
A lack of clear land ownership rights for farmers is hampering efforts to open up the region to the wider market.
As a land reform practitioner of several decades, my first reaction to the news that the department of agriculture, land reform and rural development was intending to release state-owned land on the basis of long-term leases was one of incredulity.
Two weeks ago, City Press carried a depressing story on black farmers in Mpumalanga who stood to be removed from the state-owned land they were working.
