Farmers furious at ‘national asset’ threat to land rights

Business Day’s Stephan Hofstatter reports, “Farmers’ union AgriSA held an emergency meeting with Department of Rural Development and Land Reform director-general Thozi Gwanya yesterday to discuss his department’s proposals that productive farmland be nationalised…the plan moots speeding up land reforms by amending the constitution to turn ‘all productive land’ into ‘a national asset’ leased to farmers”.

One of the fundamental rights enshrined in our constitution is the protection of property rights. Property rights are human rights and are a fundamental requirement for a free society. Without property rights no other rights are possible because if individuals cannot keep the fruits of their labour they have no way to sustain their life. A plethora of objective studies have demonstrated the link between the protection of private property rights and prosperity. Simply put, countries that protect property rights are affluent whereas countries that disrespect property rights are poor

Source: Stephan Hofstatter Farmers furious at ‘national asset’ threat to land rights Business Day, 16 march 2010-03-18

For text: http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=103667

FMF Policy Bulletin/ 16 March 2010