grioo.com

[Pakira]

S. Africa to Take Land From White Farmer

PRETORIA, South Africa Sep 22, 2005 — South Africa's government is for the first time moving to seize land from a white farmer, saying Thursday that negotiations to buy the property to hand over to black claimants were taking too long.

Blessing Mphela, a land restitution commissioner, said at a news conference that the seizure was a last resort, but he added that land transfers to redress the abuses of the apartheid era must speed up.

The government has repeatedly said it would rely on negotiated sales to shift agricultural land ownership rather than emulate Zimbabwe's seizures of white-owned farms, which many experts say contributed to the collapse of that country's economy.

But Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's policies have made him hugely popular among black South Africans as land transfers lag here which the government blames on white farmers demanding overly high prices and dragging out sales.

When South Africa's democratic government came to power in 1994, some 87 percent of farm land was owned by whites, who account for just 10 percent of the population. Whites still own about 80 percent, according to some estimates.

Mphela is an official on the Commission on the Restitution of Land Rights, which was set up to return land that black and mixed-race families lost during white rule.

"In South Africa, where dispossession of African people was much more brutal and thorough than any other in the region, the fruits of liberation have yet to be tasted by the majority of the rural population," he said.

A spokesman for Mphela, Congress Mahlangu, told The Associated Press that the case announced Thursday is the first time the commission has resorted to expropriation.

Mphela, who is in charge of restitution cases in North West Province, said the government would issue an expropriation order for a 1,235-acre farm owned by Hannes Visser. The government offered $276,000, while Visser sought $473,000.

Visser told the South African Press Association he would challenge the order.

"I do not recognize the claim on my land and cannot be forced to sell at the government's price," he said.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1149658
_________________
"tout nèg a nèg

ki nèg nwè ki nèg klè
ki nèg klè ki nèg nwè
tout nèg a nèg

nèg klè pè nèg nwè
nèg nwè pa lè wè nèg klè
nèg nwè ké wéy klè
senti i sa roune nèg klè
mè nèg klè ké wéy klè a toujou nèg

sa ki fèt pou nèg vin' blang?
blang té gen chivé pli long?
pou senblé yé nou trapé chivé plat kon fil mang!!!
mandé to fanm...!
mè pou kisa blang lé vin' nwè?
ha... savé ki avan vin' blan yé té ja nèg!

a nou mèm ké nou mèm dépi nânni nânnan...
chinwa soti, kouli soti, indyen soti, blang soti
mèm koté nèg soti

avan yé sotil koté y fika
AFRIKA!!!"

[Pakira]

S African white farm to be seized



South Africa says it will for the first time force a white farmer to sell his land under a redistribution plan.
The decision was announced by the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights, set up to return to black people land lost under apartheid.

An official said talks to agree on a price for the farm had failed and the farmer has vowed to challenge the move.

South Africa's government says it wants to hand over about a third of white-owned farm land by 2014.

The commission on Thursday said an expropriation notice would be served on Hannes Visser, the owner of a cattle and crop farm in North West province.

The government offered to buy the 500-hectare (1,250-acre) farm for $275,000 but Mr Visser said it was worth almost twice as much.

'Too slow'

Mr Visser told the South African news agency Sapa he intended to fight the decision in court.

"Should the courts turn out to be my final recourse, I will go that route," he said.

The government argues that Mr Visser's father bought the land from a black farmer through a forced transaction in 1968.



Regional land claims commissioner Blessing Mphela said the seizure was a last resort.

But he added that South Africa must speed up land reform or face chaos.



Eighty per cent of agricultural land is owned by white South Africans, who make up only 10% of the population - the legacy of apartheid laws.



Since coming to power in 1994, the current government has adopted a "willing buyer, willing seller" approach to land redistribution, paying market prices for land that white owners are prepared to sell, and then distributing it to landless blacks.

But Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka says the pace of reform should be speeded up - as in neighbouring Zimbabwe, where most white-owned land has been seized by the state.

"There needs to be a bit of oomph. That's why we may need the skills of Zimbabwe to help us," she said.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4273890.stm
_________________
"tout nèg a nèg

ki nèg nwè ki nèg klè
ki nèg klè ki nèg nwè
tout nèg a nèg

nèg klè pè nèg nwè
nèg nwè pa lè wè nèg klè
nèg nwè ké wéy klè
senti i sa roune nèg klè
mè nèg klè ké wéy klè a toujou nèg

sa ki fèt pou nèg vin' blang?
blang té gen chivé pli long?
pou senblé yé nou trapé chivé plat kon fil mang!!!
mandé to fanm...!
mè pou kisa blang lé vin' nwè?
ha... savé ki avan vin' blan yé té ja nèg!

a nou mèm ké nou mèm dépi nânni nânnan...
chinwa soti, kouli soti, indyen soti, blang soti
mèm koté nèg soti

avan yé sotil koté y fika
AFRIKA!!!"

[Farao]