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As reported in news.com.au, South Africa's Parliament have voted to "expropriate" land from white farmers with no compensation.
From TFA:
The motion was brought by Julius Malema, leader of the radical Marxist opposition party the Economic Freedom Fighters, and passed overwhelmingly by 241 votes to 83 against. The only parties who did not support the motion were the Democratic Alliance, Freedom Front Plus, Cope and the African Christian Democratic Party
...
"The time for reconciliation is over. Now is the time for justice," Mr Malema was quoted by News24 as telling parliament. "We must ensure that we restore the dignity of our people without compensating the criminals who stole our land."
...
Mr Malema has been leading calls for land confiscation, forcing the ANC to follow suit out of fear of losing the support of poorer black voters. In 2016, he told supporters he was "not calling for the slaughter of white people‚ at least for now"
This policy has been tried in other African countries before, most recently Zimbabwe, with disastrous results. The farms appropriated usually fail rapidly, leading to food shortages and economic destruction. Will South Africa be able to avoid repeating history, or is it about to slide into 3rd World status?
(Score: 4, Touché) by c0lo on Wednesday February 28 2018, @01:46PM (6 children)
ZA's partner in BRICS will certainly help. Through loans from New Development Bank [wikipedia.org].
Which loans will be de-facto defaulted, but of course officially the Chinese will over take the management for the institution and resources that could not pay the "development" loans - it would be a pity not to use whatever has been developed.
But... the Chinese managers works best with Chinese specialists... and foremen... and police... and so on.
Perhaps the above is a huge leap from reality, but it fits [abc.net.au] well [bbc.com] with the pattern [bbc.com], so I can't discount the verisimilitude of the question that makes the title of my comment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Interesting) by c0lo on Wednesday February 28 2018, @01:55PM
The first aid that will be necessary: drinking water for Capetown** on short term, desalination plants for longer terms.
---
** Cape Town water crisis [wikipedia.org] reaches its peak just about now, with the city on the verge of running out of water [bbc.com].
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Interesting) by TheRaven on Wednesday February 28 2018, @02:04PM (4 children)
sudo mod me up
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday February 28 2018, @02:20PM
If you think only at farm ownership, you'd be right.
But you are missing something: why did they need to expropriate the white farmers in the first place? Why do they need a populist move now,? 'cause it's clear the white farmers weren't doing a bad job.
Because of corruption and mismanagement maybe? If so, those two tend to last longer and drain an economy, any economy actually, faster and far beyond simple farming practices alone can compensate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by ewk on Wednesday February 28 2018, @02:26PM
Regarding the qualified people: If so, it took them (SA) bloody long enough to get them (decent black farmers, that is)
When the Apartheids regime ended (end of 20th century) they already went roughly through the same motions: kicking out a lot of whites from their successful diary farms and replacing them with black owners.
Too bad the new owners had absolutely no clue (about running a real diary farm). They just kept the 20-30 cows they were used too.
The other livestock was simply sold or (even more simple) not even cared for (so it starved).
Of the appr. 10 diary farms we passed during a two week trip (in 1999) about 3/4 of them did not produce any diary products whatsoever anymore.
Ah well... Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
I don't always react, but when I do, I do it on SoylentNews
(Score: 3, Insightful) by khallow on Wednesday February 28 2018, @03:42PM (1 child)
I disagree. In Zimbabwe, the new black-owned farms could have simply learned how to farm. That's what happened in the first place with the white-owned farms. It's not a matter of learning, it's a matter of replacing a food-producing system with a political system that is disinterested in farming or feeding people.
Here, because the farms weren't taken over on a basis of qualification, they certainly won't be doled out on the basis of qualification. Corruption and evil begets more of the same.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 01 2018, @02:47AM
Welcome to Africa. Things work very differently to your comfortable Western existence. Your statement is a joke, right? Except that millions starve because your statement would not happen in 1000 years. As I said, welcome to Africa.