Free Land

[Colonel]

I've recently been talking to various foreign Uber drivers from Burundi, Zimbabwe, the DRC and Malawi. They all state that in their countries of origin they have to pay for land. There is no such thing as free land. In fact they can't understand the demands of South Africans for free land. It seems to me that many of our South Africans expect this for nothing. Surely this is a world-wide accepted principle?

[Dave A]

They all state that in their countries of origin they have to pay for land. There is no such thing as free land.

I have been toying with making a post on this for a while now, as I believe this is a fundamental contributor to the land expropriation and redistribution challenge we face nowadays.

While most would claim the origins of this to be the Freedom Charter, the Freedom Charter is silent on individual property ownership rights and also talks to housing rent and prices being lowered (i.e. kept affordable). This would seem to indicate a vision of ownership vesting in the state, pretty common of communist and socialist thinking at the time.

I suggest the person we have to thank most for the deeply embedded nature of the "free land" paradigm today is Joe Slovo, who was made Minister of Housing in the Government of National Unity in 1994. He passed on in 1995, but in his short tenure in the post was easily one of the most productive Government Ministers of the time, and was rolling out a free housing program within months.

This was a stroke of genius on his part in terms of embedding his socialist views into the social fabric of South Africa. Unfortunately the knock-on consequences have been coming home to roost for some time already.

[JYBDC]

Comment on Free Land

I've recently been talking to various foreign Uber drivers from Burundi, Zimbabwe, the DRC and Malawi. They all state that in their countries of origin they have to pay for land. There is no such thing as free land. In fact they can't understand the demands of South Africans for free land. It seems to me that many of our South Africans expect this for nothing. Surely this is a world-wide accepted principle?

Many people in SA feel "cheated" because of past injustices , however my simple story is that I was not born here but arrived as a 4 year old , my father never ended up owning fixed property , I did "mess around" in my earlier years , but once married at the age of 35 acquired my small 3 bedroom house which I had to struggle for many years to pay off , which I eventually did manage to do , shortly after my wife left me , and I found myself starting out all over again in a sense , but I have made it (by the Grace of God of course , and I give Him all the Glory) , today I am still in the house which is paid off. Many people in SA probably look at me in a way that I am "privileged" , I could also look over my shoulder and envy those who "live up the hill" in mansions far greater than my own , but I choose not to do so. Be happy with what you have , if not , WORK (AND PAY) for what you want to have . Sometimes you will not quite get there , other times maybe far exceed initial expectations , but just in trying is an experience in itself. Where the real problem comes in is that since 1994 , instead of our new government working in a diligent way to CREATE OPPORTUINITIES that create jobs (note here that I do not believe "creating jobs" in itself is sustainable , as it ends up with a bloated government wage bill that cannot sustain itself in the long term , which is exactly what we are seeing in SA) , and as we are all too aware they have gone the opposite in losing the majority of the wealth of this country through greed and corruption , has resulted in a young person trying to acquire a property so much more difficult than I would have had it some 20 years ago , and for that I do sympathise to an extent , but still struggle to find the justification in much of the money that is spent on fashion , cell phones and entertainment . WAKE UP people of SA , vote yourselves a government that has a genuine concern to serve the citizens who elected it , scrap the unions and get back to hard work , production of local products instead of importing more and more from the east , the jobs will come back , then if you are willing to reduce spending on fashion , cell phones and entertainment , the houses WILL FOLLOW …………. and THEN even the fashion , cell phones and entertainment and much more can return.