South Africa farm seizures: IMF gives ‘FULL SUPPORT’ to controversial farm policy

The support from the IMF will be subjected to the way the reform is carried out, according to the IMF’s senior resident representative in South Africa Montfort Mlachila.

Mr Mlachila specified the move must not damage farm output to ensure South Africans continue to have reliable food supplies.

He told Reuters: “We are in full support of the need to undertake land reforms in order to address the issues of inequality.”

Adding the IMF is not an expert on land reforms, Mr Mlachila said: “There is need to have a transparent, rules-based, and constitutional process that leads to desirable outcomes. 

“It is particularly important not to undermine agricultural production and food security.”

A system of institutionalised racial segregation, known as Apartheid, ruled over South Africa between 1948 and 1994, creating a great wealth inequality between many black South Africans and the white minority.

The Land Audit Report, a document shared by the state’s department of Rural Development and Land Reform, stated that nearly 72 percent of land in South Africa is owned by white farmers, but only eight percent of the country’s 56 million population is white.

Commenting on the South African economy, Mr Mlachila said the IMF was unlikely to revise its growth forecast upwards. 

Last month the IMF kept its prediction of 2018 growth at 1.5 percent.

He said: ”Given the weaknesses in growth indicators in the second quarter of 2018, I don’t see us revising upwards.”

But, he added, it’s too early to say for definite.

The ruling African National Congress (ANC) has announced its intention to put an end to the disparity within the population through land reforms.

ANC first revealed its decision to expropriate land to white farmers without compensation at its party conference in December. 

Public hearings on land reforms are being held across the country, in a bid to understand whether there is an appetite for a change in the Constitution to include a clause allowing for land expropriation without compensation.

At the moment, it’s illegal for South Africans to acquire land beyond their reserves, known as “Homelands”.

Earlier today, South African deputy president Davis Mubuza vowed the government is not planning on simply take land from white farmers – but he warned them they will have to “share” it.

Speaking to ITV News, he said: “We are going to ensure that there’s no land grab but there should be a realisation from farmers, white farmers, that they’ve got to share the land.” 

The debate over the land reforms became an international issue when last week US President Donald Trump said he had asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to study South African “land and farm seizures” and the “killing of farmers”.

In turn, the South African government accused Mr Trump of stoking racial divisions.

South Africa’s move has not only been backed by the IMF.

British Prime Minister Theresa May has also supported the programme, provided it is carried out legally.