That's it! I give up. I have now officially had enough. I have tried time and time again to understand the concept of land claims and land reform and all but truth be told it just angers me. Yes, I know that during Apartheid land was unfairly taken from blacks and other races but since that time a lot of the farms have changed hand a couple times and the person who currently calls that farm home legally owns that land.
And when someone comes along and tells you that your land and your home actually belongs to someone else and that you have to move, it is just downright frustrating. I try to be understanding, I really do.
BUT NOW, I find out that the government actually has no idea how much of the agricultural land is currently owned by different racial groups! We've been told that the reason government has been handing out land to the "previously disadvantaged" is because they still own a minority share. Actually, they have no clue who owns what share and will continue handing out land to people who have no will or intention to make that land successful!
Maybe I am generalizing here, but I come from Carolina, a small town in the Highveld, Mpumalanga and in the years that my family has been farming there we have watched many successful farmers leave the area only to be replaced by someone who doesn't really know much about farming, nor does he have any intention of learning how to farm because lets face it, when something is handed to you on a silver platter you take it for granted! I have watched the most amazingly beautiful farms slowly decline until they are virtually irreparable.
I am NOT a racist. I’m not against land being owned by blacks, I am against people who are given something they don’t really want (so that they can be classified as having a home and a job! Must keep the statisticians happy) who then take it for granted and then let it fall into disrepair.
I know many successful black and coloured farmers as well, don't get me wrong, they know what they're doing. But the successful ones are those that actually bought the land and had life long dreams of becoming farmers. They had aspirations for the land. And most of all they respected the responsibilities that come with farming and a farming community.
Being a farmer is not just about making sure that your farm is successful but rather a community thing. When there is stock theft in the area all the farmers in the area need to be notified so that firstly, they can check that all their livestock is there, secondly so that they can check if someone else’s livestock has not become mixed up with their own and lastly so that they know to be extra careful in the near future. If there is a fire in the area it is everyone’s responsibility to stop it before it gets to your own land.
However, when there are farmers in the area that really don’t care it affects the whole community! And this is what makes me so mad. People who don’t work for what they get take it for granted and don’t understand their place in the greater circle of life.
In life you have to work for what you want. You’ll work for the things that you really want and when you finally do get what you want the government will come in, chase you away and give all your hard work to someone who will throw it all away. Welcome to South Africa!
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