IFP: NATIONALISATION OF LAND WILL LEAD TO FAMINE

The IFP has demanded the same reassurance regarding the nationalisation of agricultural land that President Jacob Zuma recently extended to South Africa's mines.

"The issue of nationalisation of farm land is a political evergreen which reappears in the ANC government's public discourse whenever its fortunes seem to be slipping," said IFP KZN spokesperson on agriculture Henry Combrinck.

The IFP has condemned national Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti's renewed ambiguity on the subject of nationalisation of farms months after the government scapped a controversial land expropriation bill.

"Experience in South Africa and abroad suggests that state enterprises are inherently less productive than private ones. The mismanagement of nationalised farms in Zimbabwe, which has led to widespread famine, is a case in point," said Combrinck.

The IFP contends that the re-emergence of the nationalisation debate is a mere diversion from the ANC government's botched attempt at land reform so far, marred by bureaucratic inefficiency and a lack of training opportunities for emerging farmers.

"Many landowners are prepared to co-operate within the framework of the current willing-seller willing buyer schemes but a large proportion of these deals are frustrated by endless inefficiency of the very ministry that now seeks to make matters worse by augmenting the role of the state in land redistribution," said Combrinck.

Statement issued by Henry Combrinck, Inkatha Freedom Party KZN spokesman on agriculture, March 31 2010

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