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Alternative Fact that Whites own 80% of the economy/land

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Like a stuck record (remember them?) I say it again; “Merely accepting anything posted on Social Media as true is really really dangerous. Make sure that you cross check any ‘facts’ posted on anyone’s timeline- we all have bias.”

Todays Fact Check is the often repeated ‘Goebbels like’ statement: “80% of the economy being in the hands of whites IS the problem”

According to Fact Checking web site; Africa Check the claim is INCORRECT.

See the full explanation here: Do 40,000 whites own 80% of SA? The claim is incorrect.

The claim that around 40,000 white families own 80% of the land (hence the economy) in South Africa is a claim that has been widely circulated since Andile Mngxitama, a Member of Parliament and “commissar for land and agrarian revolution” with the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), raised the issue in an open letter to business tycoon Richard Branson in May 2016.

In Mngxitama’s letter – written after the Virgin founder purchased a 40-hectare farm near Franschhoek in the Western Cape province – Branson’s acquisition was described as “stolen land”.

“The dominant idiom since 1652 is that of the settler, who imposed it upon the native majority through force of arms,” Mngxitama wrote. “The result of this conquest is that, about 350 years later, the native majority is landless and only about 40,000 white families own up to 80% of our land.”

Mngxitama later repeated the claim on Twitter, writing: “?#Land101 SA is constituted by 123-million hectares. 80% of SA land owned by only 40,000 white families. SA population [about] 53-million”.

In a subsequent television debate with Cornelius Janse van Rensburg from the Afrikaans “business rights watchdog” AfriSake, the EFF’s spokeswoman in Gauteng, Mandisa Mashego, was adamant that “80% of this country’s land is deemed as agricultural land and 80% of that land is owned by 40,000 white families”. Glaring, Janse van Rensburg responded: “It’s nonsense, it’s not so.”

Can the claim be dismissed as nonsense, or is there some truth to it?

The state land audit, carried out by the office of South Africa’s Chief Surveyor-General and published in 2013, did indeed find that 79% of South Africa’s landmass was in private hands.

But that includes land owned by individuals, companies and trusts and all urban real estate as well as agricultural and mining land in South Africa.

Therefore, according to Mmuso Riba, the Chief Surveyor-General, “there is no basis” for the claim that whites own 80% of South Africa.

The post-apartheid state currently owns a quarter of the country and redistributing this should be land reform’s first priority. When this is added to the 7.95 million hectares already acquired through land reform, plus the significant though unknown amount of land blacks are buying privately, the discrepancies between white and black ownership are sharply reduced and in some provinces may even be equitable.

Conclusion: The claim is incorrect

Claims that 40,000 white families own either 80% of South Africa, or 80% of the country’s farmland, are incorrect and not supported by the available data.

Although a state land audit has shown that 79% of South Africa is privately owned, this includes land owned by individuals, companies and trusts, and includes all urban real estate and agricultural and mining land in South Africa. This would include land owned by both black and white South Africans.

It is also unlikely that the number of commercial farming units captured in the 2007 census – slightly less than 40,000 – reflects the true status of all commercial agricultural land in South Africa.

Certainly huge disparities remain and land ownership continues to be heavily skewed across racial lines twenty years after the end of apartheid.

But none of the datasets support the claims made by Mngxitama and Mashego. Given the inherent sensitivity of the land debate and the importance of land reform in South Africa, it is vital that debate around the issue and policy decisions is informed by accurate, current data.

References:

  1. The Distribution of Land in South Africa: An Overview
  2. Africa Check
  3. Rural Development Land Audit
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Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.