AFRICA-AGRICULTURE: ANOTHER AFRIKANER GREAT TREK NORTH

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

CHRIS LOUW

PRETORIA, Feb 21 1995 (IPS) - SOUTH AFRICA’S PREDOMINANTLY CONSERVATIVE WHITE FARMERS, DENIED AN OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE A “FATHERLAND” WITHIN THE COUNTRY, HAVE NOW SET THEIR EYES NORTHWARDS.

WITH THE BLESSING OF PRESIDENT NELSON MANDELA AND THROUGH THE FREEDOM FRONT LEADER GEN. CONSTAND VILJOEN, A NEW ‘GREAT TREK’ HAS BEGUN TO ZAMBIA, MOZAMBIQUE, GABON, UGANDA AND CONGO.

MOST OF THE “TREKKERS” ARE DESCENDANTS OF AFRIKANER “VOORTREKKERS” WHO MOVED FROM THE CAPE PROVINCE ON OX WAGONS IN THE EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY TO ESCAPE BRITISH RULE. AFRIKANERS ARE DECENDANTS OF DUTCH, GERMAN AND FRENCH SETTLERS WHO ARRIVED IN THE CAPE IN 1652.

AS THE RUGGED FARMERS TRAVELLED NORTHWARDS, THEY CLASHED WITH LOCAL BLACK ETHNIC GROUPS, EVENTUALLY SUBJUGATING THEM AND ESTABLISHING THEIR OWN REPUBLICS, INCLUDING THE ORANGE FREE STATE AND THE ZUID-AFRIKAANSCH REPUBLIC (LATER TRANSVAAL).

BUT UNLIKE THEIR FOREBEARS, THE NEW TREKKERS WILL HEAD NORTH NOT ONLY WITH THE MOST MODERN OF AGRICULTURAL EQUIPMENT, BUT ALSO WITH THE BLESSING OF NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES.

MANDELA LAST WEEK ARRANGED FOR VILJOEN AND A DELEGATION OF TRANSVAAL AND FREE STATE AGRICULTURAL UNION MEMBERS TO VISIT MOZAMBIQUE TO INVESTIGATE FARMING POSSIBILITIES. THEIR VISIT ALSO HAD THE BLESSING OF MOZAMBIQUE PRESIDENT, JOACHIM CHISSANO.

MOZAMBIQUE, WHICH RELIES ON FOREIGN AID FOR 75 PERCENT OF ITS NATIONAL BUDGET, IS THE LATEST COUNTRY WHICH HAS ASKED SOUTH AFRICAN FARMERS TO BRING THEIR SKILLS TO ASSIST THE ECONOMY TO DEVELOP.

THE HIGH COMMISSIONER OF UGANDA RECENTLY MADE A SIMILAR APPEAL TO AFRIKANER FARMERS, WHILE MANY HAVE ALREADY MOVED TO ZAMBIA SINCE THE ELECTORAL DEFEAT IN 1991 OF FORMER PRESIDENT AND ANTI-APARTHEID CAMPAIGNER, KENNETH KAUNDA.

IRONIES ABOUND OVER THE NEW PROJECT. SOUTH AFRICA’S WHITE FARMERS ARE NOTORIOUSLY CONSERVATIVE AND MANY OF THEM BELONG TO RIGHTWING PARTIES. THEY HAVE FOR DECADES RESISTED DEMOCRACY IN SOUTH AFRICA, FEARING TO LOSE PRIVILEGES THEY HAVE BECOME ACCUSTOMED TO UNDER APARTHEID RULE.

VILJOEN, A FORMER HEAD OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN DEFENCE FORCE, ADMITS HAVING HAD CLOSE TIES WITH MOZAMBIQUE’S FORMER REBEL RENAMO MOVEMENT IN THE 1980S, WHICH LAID WASTE TO THE COUNTRY.

BUT, HE INSISTS, “WE WERE TRYING TO STOP THE ADVANCE OF COMMUNIST EXPANSION.” MOZAMBIQUE, “WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR ITS OWN WOES BECAUSE OF ITS EXPERIMENTATION WITH SOCIALISM”.

THE RETIRED GENERAL TURNED POLITICIAN SAID HE WAS STRUCK BY THE SIGNS OF WAR IN MOZAMBIQUE ON HIS VISIT, AND ONLY WISHED TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE REBUILDING OF THE COUNTRY.

VILJOEN IS HELD IN HIGH ESTEEM BY THE AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS (ANC) FOR HIS ROLE IN BRINGING SIGNIFICANT SECTIONS OF THE RIGHTWING INTO THE DEMOCRATIC POLITICAL PROCESS.

UNLIKE HARDLINERS LIKE CONSERVATIVE PARTY (CP) LEADER DR. FERDIE HARTZENBERG, WHO REFUSED TO RECOGNISE THE CONSTITUTIONAL TRANSITION, VILJOEN REGISTERED HIS PARTY AND TOOK PART IN THE APRIL ELECTIONS.

HIS CONSTRUCTIVE APPROACH TO THE NEW GOVERNMENT IS PROBABLY THE MAIN REASON WHY HE WAS ASKED BY MANDELA TO HEAD THE DELEGATION INVESTIGATING FARMING CONDITIONS IN MOZAMBIQUE.

DRIES BRUWER, PRESIDENT OF THE TRANSVAAL AGRICULTURAL UNION AND A FREEDOM FRONT MEMBER, MAINTAINS AGRICULTURAL CONDITIONS ABROAD ARE BETTER THAN IN SOUTH AFRICA ITSELF.

“SOUTH AFRICA IN FACT IS AN AGRICULTURE-UNFRIENDLY COUNTRY. EXTENSIVE DROUGHTS IN THE PAST FEW YEARS HAVE FORCED MANY FARMERS TO LEAVE THEIR FARMS,” HE SAID, ADDING MANY FARMERS HAVE SET THEIR EYES NORTHWARDS BECAUSE CLIMATIC CONDITIONS ARE MORE ADVANTAGEOUS FOR FARMING.

ACCORDING TO BRUWER, MANY FARMERS WILL NEVER HAVE THE CHANCE TO RETURN TO THEIR FARMS, PARTLY BECAUSE OF THE NEW GOVERNMENT’S POLICY OF RE-DISTRIBUTING LAND TO BLACK FARMERS.

“WE CANNOT, IN THE CONTINENT’S INTEREST, AFFORD THOSE AGRICULTURAL SKILLS TO GET LOST. SOUTH AFRICA HAS A SURPLUS CAPACITY OF FARMERS, AND THIS SHOULD BE UTILISED.”

HE SAID DESPITE THE OPTIMISM, FARMERS REALISED THERE WOULD BE SERIOUS PROBLEMS TO GET COMMERCIAL FARMING OFF THE GROUND, BUT THE WHOLE PROJECT WOULD BE APPROACHED IN A SCIENTIFIC MANNER.

FARMERS WILL ALSO BE SCREENED. “WE DON’T WANT UNQUALIFIED FARMERS TO GIVE US A BAD NAME,” HE SAID.

THE FARMERS WERE NOT EMIGRATING AS “MISSIONARIES”, BUT AS “BUSINESSMEN. WE ARE NOT MOTIVATED BY ALTRUISM. WE WANT TO SEE WHAT IS IN IT FOR US AS WELL.”

VILJOEN SAID BECAUSE SOUTH AFRICAN FARMERS WERE SO PRODUCTIVE, THE GOVERNMENT TENDED TO UNDER VALUE THEM. THEY HOPED TO BE APPRECIATED BETTER BY THE GOVERNMENTS OF NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES, WHERE A FARMING SECTOR SUFFERING FROM NEGLECT, IS ESSENTIAL FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH.

HE SAID A COMMON STRATEGY SHOULD BE DEVISED BY SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY (SADC) COUNTRIES. “THE ADVANTAGES FOR AGRICULTURE, INCLUDING EXPORTATION, WILL BE ENORMOUS.”

ASKED WHY WHITE FARMERS WERE SUDDENLY PREPARED TO LIVE UNDER BLACK GOVERNMENTS WHILE RESISTING DEMOCRACY IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY FOR SO LONG, VILJOEN SAID:

“SOUTHERN AFRICA IN THE PAST DECADES WAS MARKED BY CONFLICT AND WAR. AS THE POLITICS OF CONFLICT ARE PASSING, A NEED FOR FOOD AND DEVELOPMENT IS GROWING. THERE IS A NEW URGENCY TO REBUILD THE COUNTRIES TO MAKE AVAILABLE THEIR FULL POTENTIAL TO THEIR PEOPLE. WE WANT TO ASSIST IN THIS PROCESS.

“WE STILL WANT OUR ‘VOLKSTAAT’ (AFRIKANER REPUBLIC), A HEIMAT, OUR OWN ISRAEL, A PLACE WHERE WE CAN SEND OUR CHILDREN TO FOR THEIR EDUCATION. WE DON’T WANT TO LOSE OUR CULTURAL IDENTITY,” HE ADDED.

VILJOEN, HOWEVER, ADMITTED THE ‘VOLKSTAAT’ IDEA WOULD TAKE YEARS, IF NOT DECADES, TO ACHIEVE. THE ‘AFRIKANER COUNTRY’ WOULD ALSO BE MUCH SMALLER THAN GENERALLY BELIEVED.