South Africa’s gov’t carries out first large-scale land expropriation

[BayCityProgressive]

Sorry about the source, but I couldn't find an MSM article on this.

BY T.J. FIGUEROA
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, February 24—The South African government carried out its first large-scale land expropriation of white-owned farmland January 26, following the failure of the landowner to agree on a selling price. The 25,000-hectare (61,775-acre) farm in the Northern Cape province, owned by the Evangelical Lutheran Church, is to be returned to some 470 families under land restitution laws.
In recent months the government has warned recalcitrant landowners that it will not negotiate over land prices forever, and that more expropriations will follow if settlements are not reached soon. The state has until 2008 to settle more than 6,000 outstanding rural land claims.

The dead hand of the past weighs heavily on the rural areas of South Africa. For more than 300 years—first with the advance of colonial settlers into Southern Africa, and culminating under apartheid rule—Africans were driven off their land en masse. These land seizures were codified into law with the 1913 Natives’ Land Act, which made it illegal for Blacks to own land outside of designated “native areas.”

By 1994, when South Africa’s first nonracial democratic elections took place, an estimated 87 percent of agricultural land was in the hands of white farmers. A large percentage of this land was concentrated in huge commercial estates. Today—nearly 13 years after the African National Congress came to power—a mere 3 percent of agricultural land has been transferred to Black farmers.

http://www.themilitant.com/2007/7110/711004.html

Hm..Sounds like the ANC is going back to it's socialist roots and moving in the direction of Latin America. This on top of the fact that they have announced their first ever gov. surplus will go completely to social programs and a basic income guarantee. They have also legalized gay marriage and stated they will re-nationalize some of the things the World Bank told them they must privatize. Namely, water.

:popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

[applegrove]

1. Great news. They are pushing ahead. And being more than fair.

[SammyWinstonJack]

2. K&R