Across Africa large tracts of land are being sold or leased to foreign countries and companies to grow food, flowers and biofuels. This land is handed over for a song and offers food and resource security to the richer parts of the world — Europe, the Middle East and Asia. But denies thousands of African people of the food they need to survive.
My natural instinct is to see the large firms and the bigger nations as the aggressors: the ones who are strong-arming smaller nations into deals they don’t want. It’s a new form of colonialism that takes advantage of the poor to feed the rich. And in some ways this is true.
But it’s all too easy to leave it there. It’s all too easy to leave responsibility to other people for an African problem. It is the way most of our brains have been geared to work. The liberal, the conservative, the commie and the fascist. We all have a tendency to see Africa as incapable of solving her own problems, incapable of standing up to her wealthier neighbours to the north, east and west. And frankly, that is bullshit.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. We’ve all heard that saying. Especially when George Bush completely fumbled it in a speech in Tennessee. One of the greatest moments in modern politics in my opinion. But we shouldn’t jest, because across our continent, leaders are not just fumbling the words, they are fumbling the practice.
When the governments of Ethiopia, Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Congo and any other African nation hand over arable land to a foreign country, they are going into those deals with their eyes open. They are going into those deals knowing what happened last time there was a scramble for Africa. They know the Europeans, the Saudis and the Chinese are looking out for themselves. But they turn a blind eye to the warning signs and sign on the dotted line. You can’t call a man a colonialist if you are a willing capitulator.
Of course I am not privy to every reason why these leaders are doing this. I am not in their shoes. But what I do know is whatever their reasoning (short-term profit, foreign investment or personal gain) they are giving away their people’s right to survival. They are giving away their future. They are breaking their promise to their nations, to their constituents and to themselves. And it is the moral duty of the people of that country and every other African country to stand up and say: “WTF? You can’t do that!”
Imagine if Germany gave away so much of its land to a Chinese company that ordinary Germans faced starvation. There wouldn’t be a single European who wouldn’t protest. If the Saudis sold off their nation’s grain supply for biofuel, you’d hear about it.
But in Africa, the complaints of the poor go unheard. The tribesmen, the impoverished farmers and the average Joe Shmoe just has to lump it. Even when successes are achieved, like in Madagascar where protests forced Daewoo to cancel the purchase of half of Madagascar’s arable land, it received little or no coverage. Even the article published this weekend in the M&G on the matter is taken from the Observer. Why does it take a foreign journalist to raise this issue? Surely the loss of Africa’s food supply is something that concerns us?
I don’t want to sound like another lame ass white afro-pessimist sipping on his Shiraz and bitching about things. I don’t want to give fuel to the people out there who will say: “Look, I told you so”.* I just want to see someone in power on this continent give a fuck about this issue. It’s important. It’s our food we’re talking about.
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43 Responses to “African land grabs: New colonialism or African apathy?”
Why not compare the average level of education in Africa with the average level of education in Europe? Communication is also no where near first world. Perhaps this has something to do with it? How can one object to what a “leader” is doing when one have no idea what he is doing and wouldn’t know how to counter it if one did? We have refugees in our country that avoided being killed by these “leader’s” militia only to now discover the ground they were removed from were sold to Europeans. They also fondly remember their vegetable gardens back home that used to feed them and those in the villages well. But then subsistence farmers, although an environmentally savvy idea, do not make “leaders” rich. I’m starting to realise that the biggest problem in Africa is “leaders” who were educated in the West and feel alienated from their own people.
Food is just the latest commodity that is being sold off by Africa’s elite to anyone who is buying. They are already selling off the minerals and energy assets and stashing all their cash offshore. In this way they quite quickly do not need their electorate, their tax revenues come from these sales and the poor in their countries can whither and die for all they care.
It is the fault of the African voter that can’t be bothered to exert any pressure on their beloved leaders and take up arms if that does not work. Each African country was only too happy to fight off the white colonials in this manner. Whats wrong with doing the same thing to the next dork that comes along and rapes your country or is it ok just becasue he happens to be black and speaks your language and tells you what you want to hear?
The world is quite rapidly developing a deaf ear to the victimised whining of the African. In a place where people allow their own leaders to steal them blind and take no action against them, how can you expect others to care and frankly, why should they?
The sick irony that a bit of investment and management can turn Ethiopia into a food basket in such a short time is an indictment on the pathetic leaders they have in place. Africans need to grow more than their own food; they need to grow a pair too!
Unfortunately, very few citizens in Africa are able to hold their leaders to account. Leaders are happy to sustain old colonial political systems and practices, because in many instances they have just taken over from the colonialist as the new ruling elite (now “independent” as opposed to “client governments”).
Land and agriculture is a good example. Look at Zimbabwe where very little was done until land became a convenient political issue.
The West and China are not without blame, but ultimately until people are able to hold their leaders accountable through strong institutions, free media and civil society they will get away with plundering and selling their own country to the highest bidder.
It also doesn’t help when the ruling elite is so tightly connected to all forms of political power, discourse and economic activity that anyone else is effectively voiceless and powerless (sustained through the elites private access to education, money and leverages of power). This means there is no competing interests - apart from that of the ruling elite.
This is what makes SA different – we have a plural society with competing interests and centres of power. If the National Democratic Revolution ever works we will go down the same path…
Africa’s chiefs have always sold the land and pocketed the cash. The Swazi king still does it - sells land if he needs cash. Most of them have NO interest in rural development.
It was after the Griqua leaders sold the vast tracts of land given them by Queen Victoria to Rhodes (the Kimberley diamond fields) that the missionaries made the Brits demark Homelands where the chiefs could NOT sell the land - which homelands included Swaziland, Botswana and Lesotho (kept out of the Republic in 1910 but before that part of SA)
Great point. Our leadership does not work in our interest but rather seeks to enrich themselves. We fail to hold the leadership to account in part because of cultures that encourage loyalty to elders/clan/tribe. We need to somehow foster a culture of critically questioning any and everything. Less acceptance… more questioning.
Wow, what a nice article. I ‘ll give it a lot more credibility when I see white South African’s like yourself do more to fight for equality and social justice on behalf of the majority. I think it’s morally wrong that fifteen years after the ANC took power in South Africa that the tiny minority still controls over 85% of the land in South Africa. The world must put an end to the continued exploitation of lands that belong to indigenous black Africans. I think it’s horrible that in South Africa the black majority live in abject poverty and the tiny white minority controls all the wealth of the country.
I think the reason why Mugabe of Zimbabwe is popular among landless black Africans and black people in general is because he fights for the redistribution of stolen lands. Perhaps, white South Africans like yourself will be given more credibility when black South Africans will be able to obtain lands stolen from them. Until then, I see you as big hypocrite.
Todd Kidd
Black American
New Orleans,
DJS,
Thoughtprovoking.
So my question is - what avenues are available for us to be taken seriously, other than mass action ?
Take a look at Zapiro’s cynicism (so true and real) re the commitment to the 2010 Soccer vs delivery of houses for the poor.
What about the way the ANC deliberately tried to “sabotage” delivery in the Western Cape - since they’d lost control ?
I’d suggest we need a group of “elder statesmen” like Bishop Desmond. They would fulfill the role of ombudsmen in SA to keep Government accountable and act as the voice of the people. Yes, both the DA and Cope play this role to some extent, but their voice is hidden in Parliament. People could write on subjects such as land transformation and the Ombudsmen would be empowered to investigate anywhere to confirm service (non)delivery…
Giving away land and more importantly vital water supplies for as little as a dollar a hectre on long term leases is madness in countries largely reliant on food aid.
Why don’t food aid orgs just do the same and save themselves some money on shipping.
As far as i know they are doing this for their own food security. That’s why our farmers are apparently in such high demand in Congo and the likes. Unless you have a link that disproves me. But as far as i know, they aren’t leasing out land for the benefit of the foreign countries.
This begs the question of why several nations fought for self rule. I have read the history of several nations in africa and the main fuel to the discord was land. I find it absurd that the very nationalists are giving a way land with no consideration to the masses, neither do they attempt to champion new agricultural techniques.
Having fools and thugs in parliament and power has produced a new kind of bred of theievies.
It sucks that we have to hear them clamouring stories of colonbialisms when they have sold out large tracts of land to their buddies
African Big Men selling off their countrymen’s livelihoods, pocketing the money and riding off into the sunset. Interesting that this is happening in countries where the threat of coup d’état looms ever so often.
I am African and completely agree with you. Our so called leaders are not serious! At least they should demand that half of the food produced by these foreign companies is left for the local population. Standards of living in Africa will never improve if our leaders continue on the path of self-enrichment, but more importantly if we the people continue to be apathetic to our underdevelopment by our own ‘leaders.’ The rampant poverty in Africa defies logic, considering the fact that most of the world’s resources are fruits of this continent. Our ‘leaders’ adherence to destabilizing policies promulgated by indifferent outsiders is ridiculous, good health-care and education should not be a privilege but a fundamental universal right. We must refuse to be swept off our feet, with fear and intimidation, song and dance and bags of sugar and maize, for a meaningless vote. The freedom our Grand parents fought for, cannot amount to so little. Rise up! Viva Africa!
I think the investment that these countries are making are based on the assumption that Africa will self-destruct as it has been doing since de-colonisation. These land and resource deals (mines in Congo and Zim, e;g.) are long-term investments, not in Africa, but in the investor countries’ own futures. This is not foreign ‘nationalism’; it is futurist rationalism.
As Africans die off through their own failure to protect themselves in everything from corruption to HIV to genocide, the continent will be one vast farming-fishing-mining-coastal tourism resource for whichever non-African ethnic group wins the control of the largest productive areas.
Africa’s post-colonial history suggests that these assumptions, especially on the part of the Arabs who first colonised Africa, and the Chinese are justified.
The Chinese see that a combination of inertia, illiteracy and ignorance, corruption, concupiscence and megalomania, disregard for law, acceptance of incompetence in the name of ‘affirmative action’ and governments’ indifference toward their own populations, will lead ultimately to extinction.
The Saudis think in centuries. The Chinese think in millennia. Africans think in immediate terms or, at best, in decades–roughly the length of time each new dictator can survive.
As long as Africa continues to think in terms of subsistence for the poorest and unlimited, un-earned wealth for the ‘leaders’, other ethnic groups will succeed where Africans fail. Africans must learn to distinguish between competent leadership and egomania or nothing will ever improve.
Anyone who believes African leaders are looking out for their people here is a fool. They are paying off the local leaders to move. This is all about the people in power making money. And this is another of mankind’s experiments that will likely lead to further devastation of the planet. It is easy to use the idea of modernization when no-one knows what the result will be. In some places the permanent devastation of the local aquifers is certain, and that is only the beginning. Bizarre concept, Korea wanting to buy half a country, it shows how the economics of green fuel are not green, and that people cannot produce enough food where they live, nor can they trade for it. Almost too fantastic to believe that Africa will be decimated in the fashion of South America, or the oceans for that matter. Pay off the head guy, that worked nearby, and as well took in lands that were reserves. There will be very little good in this for Africa, this is just a smooth sales pitch by conniving leaders. Period.
You are very right. We can guess the main reason why some African governement would do that. It is all the more serious as there might be no turning back once deals are signed. See the controversial judgment that questions a country national right to its own land (and possibly mineral ressources as well)? It now allows SA farmers to seize Zimbabwean governement property in SA to compensate for the taking over of their farmland in that country. No more right to nationalization? Remind me, I forgot. What compensation did despossed (former) colonial communities ever received from the West? Free medical care, education? They are not even given access any more to the colonial metropolis…
We are living in a sad world for the disenfranchised.
ja, the land grabs are a bit of a problem. i’m glad the people in the malgache jumped up and down about this — and, you know, this is one of the reasons that ravalomanana got kicked out, and i’m quite sure this is why rajoelina is getting absolutely no love.
clearly, kidd, you are not aware of the uselessness of the department of land affairs and the land bank. the cronyism within the departments responsible for redistribution is a much bigger problem than people doing the actual farming who are want 95% of the value of the land [so they can cover their mortgages and take the profits and go somewhere they are actually wanted. like congo or angola].
someone either on thought leader or another place mentioned that they hadn’t heard of european countries participating in this land grab, but the fact is that they’re in it too, both directly and indirectly, through the desire for palm oil plantation for E85 fuel.
so it’s global players messing with africa’s food security, with the local elites wanting more to profit from it than to keep it from happening.
and, by the way, it’s no accident that few of mugabe’s loudest supporters viz the *way* the farms are being redistributed actually live in zimbabwe. hm. imagine that.
[something constantly missed is that all side say that some redistribution needed to happen; the manner was the real issue.]
I could answer your question by calling you an imperialist scumbag, the murderer of innocent Iraqi children, the exploiter of children in Asian sweat shops, a bigot American and a whole bunch of other generalizations.
But I won’t. I am not going to judge you off the actions of your people because you are not your people, you are you. You are Todd Kidd, nothing more, nothing less.
I’d appreciate it if you accorded me the same courtesy.
“Food security and economic growth are being undermined by the collapse of more than 90% of the farms that the government bought for restitution or redistribution to victims of apartheid.” http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article334448.ece
You cannot put untrained people onto the land and expect them to produce food. One agronomist told me that for over twenty years our government has put insufficient money into research and development in agriculture in South Africa.
Instead our government relies on propananda and spin by multinationals like Monsanto hoping that genetically modified GM crops will be the silver bullet.
I was wondering just how coincidentail it is that the african countries that do not allow non-black folks to have citizenship or to own land are the poorest of the poor. I was born in Malawi and cannot become a citizen there - to live there I need to have a specialised skill to qualify for a work permit, and so on and so forth ….
These countries do not encourage anyone to make any meaningful contribution and investment to their growth and upliftment, so the saga of poor Africa continues …… and of course, the corruption and the related usual activities are accepted by an ingnorant (uneducated) population.
but the people keep on voting for them. therefore they can do what they like. so they do do what they like, even although the people are relying on them.
nothing as low down as an african politician. and then they make education a low priority because they know that an edeucated population will throw them out.
nigerian drug dealers are not even as low as the average african politician. now: how to explain this to the voters ?
@Todd Kidd
Hey Tod Kidd…I hear ya. But remember that David J Smith is speaking out against the precise injustice that you rail against. You may want to read his other equally entertaining blogs.
Peace out.
@Lyndall Beddy
I must admit that I kinda like reading your comments…its like you’re from the dark side of the moon. LOL
What I struggle to understand is how many Africans can’t own land - it is held in tribal trust and allocated at the discretion of chiefs.
How then can foreigners own African land?
The lack of ability to own land in Africa has been identified as a major reason for poor land stewardship - why build up the soil if the land is allocated to someone else next season?
Perhaps locals should be allowed to bid for land ownership at the same time as foreigners. Or, land should first be allocated permanently to local families and only what is left be available for foreign purchase. If African families owned land, they could lease it to commercial growers and reap financial benefits.
I owe you an apology; I did not mean to imply that you are a racist or anything else. I wanted to communicate how unfair that you could write an article on land ownership in Africa by foreigners and not be sensitve to the needs of the black majority in your own country who have no lands. I belive that white South Africans have a moral obligation to share the wealth of South Africa with the black natives.
I thank you for your time. I’m no expert on African affairs but I feel that land in Namibia and South Africa should be shared between the black majority and white minority. I just found your article out of touch and sort of odd because land reform in southern Africa is needed if there is ever going to be peace in the region. Again, I did not mean to imply that you personally are a racist or that you somehow represent all whites in South Africa. I was trying to make a point that South Africa must do more to empower the black majority. Thanks for pointing out my fault. I will analyze a litte further before I jump to conclusions.
Todd Kidd
Personally I think this is a poorly researched article where the author preferred to dwell on (in)competencies of African leaders rather than doing more research on the subject.
Am from Kenya and at the moment there 2 land projects that are still in discussion. One is a project funded by Qatar where Qatar will have a 25 yr concession in a semi arid of of Eastern Kenya. The area suffers from perennial droughts and famine, the residents are poor and survive through subsistence farming. The second project is another 25yr concession to the Kuwaiti government to build and manage Kenya’s second port in Lamu, about 200kms from Mombasa. Lamu has a deep, natural harbor ideal for catering to post panamax ships which can carry upto 10,000 20 foot containers which the Mombasa port can’t handle. This project is estimated to over $5 billion. The 2 projects below outline the dilemma African countries are facing. Building world class ports, expanding agricultural output and feeding an ever growing population all on a limited budget means that concessionary deals are an attractive option. However the problem is to ensure these deals benefit the people in the long run without giving away too many concessions.
This is a joke. We all know that initially land was traded for something the past Kings wanted. The decendents of those kings are doing the same. Like the “forced removable” where people were paid a fair sum or alternative land given, african governments intend repeating history and clain later that the land was stolen or the money paid was not enough.
@Todd Kidd. Land reforms do need to happen in South Africa. And the government is doing it. But it is a tough job. One I personally wouldn’t want to do. if it was just about land, it would have been solved.
The biggest issue is the transfer of knowledge and experience. How do we transfer land from white experienced farmers to black inexperienced farmers, whilst maintaining our output?
I have very little knowledge of the state of the agricultural colleges in South Africa. But I think the government should be pumping manpower and cash into training young black graduates in agricultural degrees. And once they have earmarked a farm for reallocation they should have a transfer period where the farmer shows the new kid how to run the farm.
To add incentive to the programme the price they pay the old farmer for his land should be directly proportional to how well that hand-over goes.
The system is not perfect and doesn’t take into account the emotional attachment farmers have to their land. But it may help to stop the transfer of land that then lays fallow. Which gives ammunition to the naysayers and the groups opposed to land reform.
@ Todd Kidd: Why don’t you have a shot at “going back to your roots” and go live down there for awhile? Your response might be a little different then …
I am tremendously heartened by the correspondence between Todd Kidd and David Smith, showing the importance of not stereotyping and making assumptions about people. People are individuals, and I have no time for ‘assuming’ that person X thinks this or that based on their ethnicity. People are far too intelligent for that. A similar sense is from Keith B Richburg’s book - Out of America - an American black man’s experience of Africa. It rips apart all stereotypes and bigotries and examines the realities of Africans as people.
Some rhetoric from the usual suspects - kidd & harris. Many white farmers are more than willing to sell their land at reasonable prices - they do so every year. Calculations show that if government had simply bought land on the open market its redistribution targets would have been achieved. Many white farmers are more than happy to help manage farms. Just as many whites are happy to help manage ports, health, eskom you name it. But they are explicitly not welcome (maybe they interfere in the cadre tender processes). Why are Qatari’s welcome in Kenya - do they grease a few palms? Will they really help the locals? Why should they, after all, they are not Kenyans.
Maybe in 10 years time all the redistributed farms that were set up by the ANC government to fail will be farmed by Chinese? Will they pay a royalty to the ANC, before shipping the products off to China? Will SA’s poor be any better off?
Sadly, and as often is the case, its not about race, colonialism, redistribution etc - its about the money to Swiss bank accounts.
The Kenyan practice of individualizing public land has created more people without rights to land and has generated new types of disputes over ownership, a new report concludes. Further, giving private ownership titles does not appear to have had much effect on credit as very few people use titles for loans, nor does it give positive environmental effects.
These are the main conclusions of a new study by Karuti Kanyinga, Re-distribution from above. The Politics of Land Rights and Squatting in Coastal Kenya, published by the Nordic Africa Institute.
David, a well-written, thoughtful piece, but if I may take a small detour–if there is one area where South Africans have no room to call Americans names, it’s bigotry. You guys cornered the market on it. Glass houses, etc.
@Todd Kidd. While the land and the economy in South Africa is in white hands, patriotic SOUTH AFRICAN white hands that is, at least it is not available for sale internationally. If you knew your facts you would know that around 80% of farms redistributed to blacks over the last 15 years have failed and massive corruption has taken place that will never see the light of day. Surely it makes sense to use one’s most skilled citizens to maximise production while training other citizens. This takes time and SA should have used a different approach. It’s not too late. You know the story about the difference between giving a man a fish or teaching him how to fish.
id like to know how much pressure is put on african leaders to make these deals… im sure there is an element of personal gain… but i am also sure there must be foreign influence and economic pressure on them to sell of land. is the imf or world bank involved in any of these deals? could you do some research on this instead of ONLY blaming the african leaders?
The sad truth is that after years of battering by the elite of most of these African nations, the people have actual come to believe that they have no right to question their leaders.
They even go as far as believing that their leaders are divinely ordained and only them can do that job. Reason why the sons turn to take over from their fathers.
I mean the raod network in some of these countries are so bad but sections are reserved for the president whether he is driving or not and when he actually is, whole motorway maybe closed for the whole day!
The people are not upset about the short-changing because they believe their leader has the right to decide and he must be adored because he is the leader. Zero accountability. Some of these nations’ leaders present no policy proposals when running for elections… Change the mentality and we shall be on our way to reversing the tide!
The ’state of our agricultural colleges’, you raise a good point!! Cedara Agricultural College near Howick/Pietermaritzburg in KZN used to be excellent, it is now an absolute mess according to what I hear. Recently the SPCA was called in because some calves were in such poor condition, last week it was reported in the local paper that their condition had improved.
A friend of mine who was a top agronomist at the Agricultural Research Council left because it had become ’so politicised’. He could not handle it.
I think a blog on the state of our agricultural colleges and other institutions is way overdue, but equally important is our government investing in agricultural research and development.
Without our white farmers we would be like Zimbabwe. Government need to take the bull by the horns.
@ Todd kidd, I suggest you get and read a copy of Tim Butcher, Blood River, 2008. And as for hypochrisy, check out what happened in Liberia.
There is land redistribution in SA, only its functionally a mess, white farmers no longer producing and investing, for the first time in its history, SA, under the new regime has NOT been able to meet the food demands for their populace.
Yet our politicians to this day sing :Kill the Boer
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David Smith is a world famous artist and a British Olympic hammer thrower. He is a curler for Scotland and Manitoba. A pro wrestler fondly known as the British Bulldog. A Canadian economist and a Mormon missionary they call the Sweet Singer of Israel. He is a British historian and a bishop. David Smith is the biographer of HG Wells, a professor of physics, a composer and a music teacher at Yale. He played rugby for Samoa, England and New Zealand. He created the Melissa worm, a deadly computer virus. He is the Guardian's man in Africa, he starred in a reality TV show and shot his way to silver in the 600m military rifle prone position at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp.
But this isn't that David Smith. This is the blog of the other David Smith. David J Smith. The bum who was unemployed and loving it in Durban but then had to get un-unemployed because his Australian wife got pregnant and wanted to go back to Australia to be near her mum. Who could blame her? She's having a kid with that bum. Yup, you know who I'm talking about. Yes, him. The David Smith who likes to write about himself in the third person.
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Why not compare the average level of education in Africa with the average level of education in Europe? Communication is also no where near first world. Perhaps this has something to do with it? How can one object to what a “leader” is doing when one have no idea what he is doing and wouldn’t know how to counter it if one did? We have refugees in our country that avoided being killed by these “leader’s” militia only to now discover the ground they were removed from were sold to Europeans. They also fondly remember their vegetable gardens back home that used to feed them and those in the villages well. But then subsistence farmers, although an environmentally savvy idea, do not make “leaders” rich. I’m starting to realise that the biggest problem in Africa is “leaders” who were educated in the West and feel alienated from their own people.
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