Thomas Johnson - The Blog

I've been saying the alarmist and irresponsible exaggeration about expropriation without compensation (EWC) , mainly from IRR and right-of-centre media BizNews (BN) and Politicsweb (PW), is that South Africa as a nation, its history, constitution and expropriation legal framework are not anything like Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Venezuela, and, and ... I said the worst was expected, mainly by whites, of a black government and blacks after 1994 but nothing came to pass as they feared. Black people forgave if not forgot. It was a political deal that whites and especially white monopoly capital, what Sampie Terreblance called "Mineral Energy Complex", kept their often ill-gotten apartheid wealth and status upon which their present day prosperity is built. Only 1% of whites live in poverty compared to 63% blacks and 44% brown. But who is shouting the loudest about a very slim potential of Zimbabwe-type land grabs, which Ramaphosa and the bill says shall not happen? Right wing an...

The IRR is making the most noise about expropriation without compensation (EWC) and the change to section 25 of the constitution. Almost every week one of its members/writers, particularly its head of research Anthea Jeffery, writes about it, nothing new but essentially the same article. It's agreed changing the constitution, which was approved by a vote in the National Assembly led by the EFF (it was their proposal) and ANC, which meekly followed and adopted as its own policy, and the bill (public comment on the Constitution Eighteenth Amendment Bill has been extended by a month until February 29), unwise and will damage confidence in the country and its economy. But the reaction especially from IRR has been exaggerated about the impact, namely, South Africa might turn into Zimbabwe or Venezuela where similar polices were adopted that contributed to their economic ruin. The only reasonable analysis from them was CEO Frans Cronje's, who's generally milder than his redu...