During the course of last year, Natalie and I were in the market to buy a farm; I've lived on a farm before, so I'm not going into it completely blindly. We set off enthusiastically, at first driving through farmlands, getting an idea of what the land is generally capable of in the region within about 100km surrounding Cape Town. Then we contacted the agents in the areas of our choice and began visiting the farms for sale. At first it was all so exciting; walking with the animals to see how healthy they are, feeling the soil, the dam walls and so on...  And the inevitable question, "why are you selling"?

The more we looked at farms and spoke to the people who were selling their farms, the more we realised that farming in South Africa no longer holds the same romantic flavour associated with hard work, natural living and the love of the land. From a number of angles, farming has become both an academic study and an economic juggling act while a struggle for survival against the onslaught of the government and the masses of hungry citizens with murderous intent!

We listened to the tales told by the many people selling their farms, of their plight against the legislations which the government has imposed on the farmer: They are taxed on catchment dams, whether they are full or not. They are taxed on water which they take out of the ground by boreholes. Wind-driven water pumps for boreholes are outlawed, therefore Escom power is required which is sold to farmers at far more expensive rates than in the city municipalities (Wind-driven power is also not allowed in some areas). Whereas farmers in other parts of the world are subsidised for many of their costs, in South Africa they are given no assistance in order to feed the nation. It is no surprise therefore that South Africa which once had a thriving export market, is now a net importer of foodstuff.

The really troubling story which was told over and over again, was the danger the farmer faces against the malicious designs of the black population who seem to have a burning desire within to kill the farmer, regardless of who that is. Even with the fortress-type environments behind which they have to live, the farmers are still vulnerable to attack. The government has also rather curiously outlawed the neighbourhood commando services to protect the farmers from attack.

We spent numerous hours learning more about this topic on the internet in order to try understand it better, but there seems to be no clear answer as to why this behaviour is so prevalent. Suffice to say, there are some horrific statistics from organisations related to the farming industry (apparently government statistics are quite unreliable) describing the numbers of farm murders, the infiltration of squatters on farmlands, the dwindling number of farmers supplying produce to the marketplace and the absolute failure associated with land ownership schemes which has granted the formerly disadvantaged with repatriated farmland. This topic is a horror all on its own: most often they are given a farm without training or proper understanding of what is expected of them; within one season the land is barren, the implements are broken and the landowner is destitute - his only recourse in order to feed his family is to steal from the neighbouring farms! The whole scenario is simply a recipe for disaster, yet it is being promoted more and more by government.

It sounds a bit like what took place in Zimbabwe about ten years ago, doesn’t it?

Trevor Kehl