A RECORD number of white South African farmers have put their land up for sale amid fears the ruling party is considering confiscating properties bigger than 25,000 acres.
640 acres in a square mile = roughly 39 square miles. (or roughly 101 square kilometers, or 10000+ hectacres)
A farm that is 39 square miles?
I can understand industrial farming, but that is a lot of farm land
for context there are people in the USA who own literally millions of acres, territory larger than some states
The Natives Land Act (No. 27 of 1913) was passed to allocate only about 7% of arable land to Africans and leave the more fertile land for whites. This law incorporated territorial segregation into legislation for the first time since Union in 1910.
The law created reserves for Blacks and prohibited the sale of territory in white areas to Blacks and vice versa. An annexure designated the territory initially allocated to Blacks, with a provision that a commission was to investigate the matter further for a more realistic delimitation. In effect, over 80% went to White people, who made up less than 20% of the population. The Act stipulated that Black people could live outside the reserves only if they could prove that they were in employment. Although the law was applicable to the whole of South Africa, in practice it applied only to the Transvaal and Natal. In the Free State, such legislation was already in force since 1876, while a law forbidding Blacks to own property in the Cape would have been in conflict with the constitution of the Union of South Africa, as Cape property-ownership was one of the qualifications for Black franchise. Sharecropping on farms in the Transvaal and the Orange Free State was forbidden.
According to debates in Parliament, the Act was passed in order to limit friction between White and Black, but Blacks maintained that its aim was to meet demands from White farmers for more agricultural land and force Blacks to work as labourers.
The racial classification of national land as ‘white’ and ‘black’ bears testimony to the past but fails to do justice to current economic, demographic and environmental conditions. In the early 1990s just under 60,000 white-owned farms accounted for about 70% of the total area of the country. Today there are under 40,000 farming units covering about 67% of the country (Stats SA 2009). The agricultural quality of this land varies, with only 13% classified as arable and over a third located in the arid Northern Cape where just 2% of the population resides. Most farmers are white but small numbers of blacks with access to capital are acquiring land through the market
independently of land reform.
> A RECORD number of white South African farmers have put their land up for sale amid fears the ruling party is considering confiscating properties bigger than 25,000 acres.
640 acres in a square mile = roughly 39 square miles. (or roughly 101 square kilometers, or 10000+ hectacres)
A farm that is 39 square miles?
I can understand industrial farming, but that is a lot of farm land
for context there are people in the USA who own literally millions of acres, territory larger than some states
https://qz.com/615048/these-are-the-10-biggest-landowners-in-the-united-states/
of importance is the Native land Act of 1913
https://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/native-land-act-passed
> The Natives Land Act (No. 27 of 1913) was passed to allocate only about 7% of arable land to Africans and leave the more fertile land for whites. This law incorporated territorial segregation into legislation for the first time since Union in 1910.
>
> The law created reserves for Blacks and prohibited the sale of territory in white areas to Blacks and vice versa. An annexure designated the territory initially allocated to Blacks, with a provision that a commission was to investigate the matter further for a more realistic delimitation. In effect, over 80% went to White people, who made up less than 20% of the population. The Act stipulated that Black people could live outside the reserves only if they could prove that they were in employment. Although the law was applicable to the whole of South Africa, in practice it applied only to the Transvaal and Natal. In the Free State, such legislation was already in force since 1876, while a law forbidding Blacks to own property in the Cape would have been in conflict with the constitution of the Union of South Africa, as Cape property-ownership was one of the qualifications for Black franchise. Sharecropping on farms in the Transvaal and the Orange Free State was forbidden.
>
> According to debates in Parliament, the Act was passed in order to limit friction between White and Black, but Blacks maintained that its aim was to meet demands from White farmers for more agricultural land and force Blacks to work as labourers.
which is a sore point of contention
some statistics
NOTE ha = hectacre = 1% of a square kilometer
the best data
http://www.plaas.org.za/sites/default/files/publications-pdf/No1%20Fact%20check%20web.pdf
> *The racial classification of national land as ‘white’ and ‘black’ bears testimony to the past but fails to do justice to current economic, demographic and environmental conditions. In the early 1990s just under 60,000 white-owned farms accounted for about 70% of the total area of the country. Today there are under 40,000 farming units covering about 67% of the country (Stats SA 2009). The agricultural quality of this land varies, with only 13% classified as arable and over a third located in the arid Northern Cape where just 2% of the population resides. Most farmers are white but small numbers of blacks with access to capital are acquiring land through the market
independently of land reform.*
other info
https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/who-owns-sas-land-20171028
https://albertonrecord.co.za/174996/land-ownership-owns-south-africa/
With another view
https://africacheck.org/reports/do-40000-whites-own-80-of-sa-the-claim-is-incorrect/
---
so large industrial farmers do not want to give up their property
understandable.
This gets into the whole question of addressing justice and injustice between groups of people. Even if the injustice happened generations ago.
---
a final review of some of the details
https://www.businesslive.co.za/rdm/politics/2018-07-23-special-report-the-truth-about-land-ownership-in-south-africa/
640 acres in a square mile = roughly 39 square miles. (or roughly 101 square kilometers, or 10000+ hectacres)
A farm that is 39 square miles?
I can understand industrial farming, but that is a lot of farm land
for context there are people in the USA who own literally millions of acres, territory larger than some states
https://qz.com/615048/these-are-the-10-biggest-landowners-in-the-united-states/
of importance is the Native land Act of 1913
https://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/native-land-act-passed
which is a sore point of contention
some statistics
NOTE ha = hectacre = 1% of a square kilometer
the best data
http://www.plaas.org.za/sites/default/files/publications-pdf/No1%20Fact%20check%20web.pdf
other info
https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/who-owns-sas-land-20171028
https://albertonrecord.co.za/174996/land-ownership-owns-south-africa/
With another view
https://africacheck.org/reports/do-40000-whites-own-80-of-sa-the-claim-is-incorrect/
so large industrial farmers do not want to give up their property
understandable.
This gets into the whole question of addressing justice and injustice between groups of people. Even if the injustice happened generations ago.
a final review of some of the details
https://www.businesslive.co.za/rdm/politics/2018-07-23-special-report-the-truth-about-land-ownership-in-south-africa/