Day 131: The Justice System – also a Scam?

Foreign Farmers Undermine Food Security in Zambia

Unlike in many countries, where large-scale farming companies dominate the agricultural landscape – it is smallholder farmers who constitute most of the farming activity in Zambia.

Many foreign and local companies are now involved in land-grabs, where large stretches of land are taken to develop their plants and factories.

On this land, live many people – who all depend on the land they have to survive, to grow food, to send their children to school. The problem is that most of these people do not hold official title deeds of the land – so legally speaking, they do not own the land: they are squatters.

So when these companies move in and take the land, things like this happen:

“They (the South African agribusiness) came with guns and threatened to shoot anyone who resisted moving out. They burnt all our household properties without any notice. We were almost 200 households. They burnt my food barns, clothes, blankets, bedding, television set – they even burnt my fields”

Before colonization, the common way of land tenure was through customs. You get a piece of land, you work it, you “own” it. Only after colonization, was statutory tenure introduced , where the whole legal technicalities and you having a particular piece of paper saying you own the land became a requirement.

So, imagine you are one of these Zambian farmers. You live on a piece of land, you grow and eat your own food for most of your life, and then someone comes chasing you off with guns and burns your shit down because you don’t have a paper that proofs that this land belongs to you. You live in a rural area, you are poor – the process of acquiring such a legal document can cost up to $2000 and take anything from 2 months to 10 years. There’s not much choice now is there? You’d have to basically sell your land to come up with the money to get a paper that says you own the land – but by then of course it’s already too late.

Zambia’s situation is not a very pleasant one, 59% of the people live below the poverty line, and 65% of the people live in rural areas. The dislocation of these farmers does not just destroy their personal lives, but will also generate consequence for the whole of the population, as food security turns into insecurity.

If we look at the definition of ‘justice’ we get:

1. Just behavior or treatment.
2. The quality of being fair and reasonable.

The situation described above is not fair nor reasonable – these people’s lives are completely disregarded in the favour of those who can afford to acquire legal documents. This in itself shows that the Justice/Legal System is corrupt – as one has to bribe their way in to be able to be part of the legal system.

This is completely unacceptable and goes contrary to everything justice as a principle is supposed to stand for.

It is time, once more, to critically investigate the nature of our reality and what we participate in.

In an Equal Money System, no such phenomenon will have space to take place – as all will be IN FACT equal, and not have to buy their way in. You are here on Earth, you should not have to ‘earn’ your living or prove that you are worthy of existing based on your economic and legal status. Investigate Equal Money – the only valid alternative to transform our world of abuse and corruption to a world that is Best for All Life.

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• Foreign farmers undermine food security in Zambia

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Day 118: Drop in Agricultural Farmland Threatens South African Food Security

The Agricultural sector in South Africa is suffering extensively.

Over the past 16 years, 20 000 agricultural farms have ceased production and is set to fall from 40 000 to 15 000 over the next 15 years

Why?

A number of reasons are given, being: farmers are no longer being subsidised for labourers' housing or farm schools, uncertainty about water usage rights, poor disease control, government incompetence and policies lacking the incentives for job creation.

But the main reason that is raised is the issue of land reforms. As part of South Africa's land reform policy as an attempt to correct the evictions that took place during the Apartheid regime, claims can be made to certain sites of land on the grounds that it is part of ancestral heritage. "A new law that has focused attention on land issues will allow the government to expropriate land for restitution where negotiations on a “willing buyer, willing seller” basis fail (Thomson, A.)."

The title deeds of the property, after it having been expropriated by the governments are then given to the claimants who then own the farm.

Why is this a problem? Very simplistically: many effective and efficient commercial farmers lose their land to another that is not necessarily a farmer - and in most cases, isn't. There are only very few examples of claimed farms that are actually being maintained or improved after the transfer. In most cases, the new owners will attempt to make as much profit from what the farm currently has to offer, but lack the desire or experience to actually manage and run the farm effectively over a long-term period in such a way that the farm contributes to the feeding of the South African population.

A simple example is a farm that was full of fruit trees, where instead of continuing to produce and sell the fruit - the new owners simply cut down all the trees and sold them for firewood, after which they didn't see any more value in the property and simply left - still holding the title deeds to the farm. The farm was the previous owner's life work and he saw it being destroyed in a matter of months.

Imagine the amount of agricultural farms dropping from 60 000 to 15 000 over a period of 30 years and then consider the implications this has on South Africa's food security!

The problem is not only that well-operating farms are being turned into wastelands after them being claimed - the simple possibity of one's farm being expropriated understandably creates extensive reluctance in farmers to invest in their farms and expand them, as there is no certainty that they will still own the farm in 1 or 2 years. So, not only a massive amount of farms that took years to be established are lost, but the remaining farms are not expanding their production capabilities to make up for the loss in numbers.

It should be understood that the past is the past, and yes, many mistakes were made. But to try and fix the mistakes of the past in the present is simply another big mistake if it means endangering the South African agricultural economy, which will affect everyone - whether one's ancestors had been evicted several decades ago or not.

In the name of 'doing good' and 'making good gestures' an ideological way, the practicality of the matter has been completely overlooked and the practical consequences are starting to rear their heads.

This is only considering one dimension of the problem. Consider the farmers losing their land - what is a farmer to do without a farm? Farming is a holistic profession and a life-long dedication - farmers generally do not possess the skills for other jobs, they simply excel at being a farmer - when this option has been stripped for them, what can they make of their life? And furthermore - why are they to pay for mistakes they didn't necessarily partake in, but happened many years ago?

We cannot correct the problems of the present by attempting to re-set time through land reform policies, there is simply no point to it. The reality of today's problems must be considered within today's context - in order to ensure the best solutions for the future.

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