Land: 'Food security at risk'

Cape Town - The Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Pieter Mulder, who is also the leader of the Afrikaans right-wing party, the Freedom Front Plus, said on Monday that should all productive land in South Africa be changed into a national asset, it would mean the nationalisation of land.

He explained that according to media reports, one of the options which the ANC is considering for a green paper on land reform is a proposal that all agricultural land will in future belong to the state and existing owner's property rights will be changed into a rental system.

"If such a proposal would be made government policy it would be contrary to the constitution," Mulder said.

"It would permanently deter all investors from South Africa and it would create huge uncertainty in rural areas which in turn would destroy food security."

Insisting that uncertainty is the most important reason why commercial farmers in rural areas at present are not developing their farms or creating more employment opportunities, the FF+ leader said: "If a so-called rental system is made government policy, it would create total uncertainty in rural areas.

"Any government official who thinks that development of rural areas is possible without the cooperation of commercial farmers, would be denying the realities of South Africa."

- I-Net Bridge