South African govt threatens to take land from "abusive" farmers
Monday, 17 September 2007
JOHANNESBURG, Sept 16 (AFP): South Africa's agriculture ministry caused a flurry of disquiet among the country's farmers this week by threatening those who mistreat their workers with land expropriation.
"We are obviously disturbed by the persistent reports of abuses on farms," Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister Lulu Xingwana told a national conference in Johannesburg Thursday of the Food and Allied Workers Union that represents farm workers.
Land reform and redistribution are sensitive topics in a country where the minority white population still owns the vast majority of land-a relic of oppressive colonial and apartheid policies.
Xingwana came out in support of her deputy minister, Dirk du Toit, who was criticised by opposition parties for having referred in parliament the previous day to a lingering "medieval" attitude among farmers.
In response to a question about farmers who lay off and evict workers unlawfully, Du Toit told MPs Wednesday: "Those people who don't want to hear, we are not only going to take them to court, we are going to also take their land away from them."
This drew a sharp response from the country's largest farmers' union, Agri SA, which claims a membership of 30,000.
Agri SA said it would raise its objections with President Thabo Mbeki and demand a clarification or retraction.
The main opposition Democratic Alliance has slammed Du Toit's statement as racist for implying that all white farmers abuse their workers.
"As a senior member of the (ruling) ANC, he (Du Toit) stood up and made racist remarks about white farmers, insinuating that all of them assault their farm workers," the party's land affairs spokesman Maans Nel told parliament Thursday.
Hostility is rife in South Africa's farming sector, with concern about rural crime and farmer murders on the one hand, and complaints of ill treatment of farm workers, mostly black and coloured (of mixed race) on the other.
"We are obviously disturbed by the persistent reports of abuses on farms," Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister Lulu Xingwana told a national conference in Johannesburg Thursday of the Food and Allied Workers Union that represents farm workers.
Land reform and redistribution are sensitive topics in a country where the minority white population still owns the vast majority of land-a relic of oppressive colonial and apartheid policies.
Xingwana came out in support of her deputy minister, Dirk du Toit, who was criticised by opposition parties for having referred in parliament the previous day to a lingering "medieval" attitude among farmers.
In response to a question about farmers who lay off and evict workers unlawfully, Du Toit told MPs Wednesday: "Those people who don't want to hear, we are not only going to take them to court, we are going to also take their land away from them."
This drew a sharp response from the country's largest farmers' union, Agri SA, which claims a membership of 30,000.
Agri SA said it would raise its objections with President Thabo Mbeki and demand a clarification or retraction.
The main opposition Democratic Alliance has slammed Du Toit's statement as racist for implying that all white farmers abuse their workers.
"As a senior member of the (ruling) ANC, he (Du Toit) stood up and made racist remarks about white farmers, insinuating that all of them assault their farm workers," the party's land affairs spokesman Maans Nel told parliament Thursday.
Hostility is rife in South Africa's farming sector, with concern about rural crime and farmer murders on the one hand, and complaints of ill treatment of farm workers, mostly black and coloured (of mixed race) on the other.