The current South African government of so very few years in office continues to make endless errors of judgement. But policy changes will certainly evolve and resentment of corruption will become a powerful influence. Perhaps the voice of farming is misdirected, and should be mindful that it is senior, well-educated aspirant civil servants whose role it is, apolitically, to advise ministers.
It is well proven that farm support in the US and EU hugely enhances allied industries, creates wealth and provides welfare for the employed. Going forward, SA will continue to produce food, although the vexatious matter of access to land will continue. The appetite for acquisitions, expropriations and forced BEE will decline in the longer term as demands on the Treasury shift and the serious consequences of declining and expensive food supplies become transparent.
I beg the editor to set aside the irritations raised in her editorial, develop new innovative thinking, and find carefully considered solutions to some of the numberless difficulties in farming.
