Collaboration Is Key To Success

Any land redistribution policy that is implemented going forward requires a coordinated response by the private sector and government to support emerging black farmers. Otherwise, it will fail. Again.

- Andile Ntingi

In traditional economics land is more than just a piece of earth; it is a factor of production. This means in its absence no production would be possible, and therefore no serious wealth accumulation can take place.

Since the ancient times, the true value of land has always stemmed mainly from its scarcity, but many land buyers purchase it to capitalise on its paucity, either to develop it for residential and commercial settlements, commercial farming, mining and minerals processing, or a whole host of other cash-generating activities.

On top of its cash-generating potential, land is loved by the commercial banks because it is one of the oldest forms of collateral as it cannot be moved, stolen, wasted or destroyed. Throughout the world, land is not only scarce; its ownership is concentrated in the hands of the few.

In South Africa, land ownership is linked to the colonial and apartheid conquest and dispossession of land previously occupied by black Africans. This resulted in whites owning the lion’s share of the land. Attempts under SA’s democratic government to alter this skewed land ownership by redistributing a fair amount of land to landless blacks have been less successful. In fact, the land redistribution process has moved at a snail’s pace, and a large number of the commercial farms that have been transferred to blacks have failed and are no longer productive. This has raised concerns about what would happen to food security if land redistribution was to be aggressively pursued and widened.