The Not So Simple Life

SA 110, originally uploaded by Benjamin Long.

A farmer’s life is often referred to as ‘the simple life’ due to its laid back lifestyle far removed from the hustle and bustle of city life. Sadly, this is not the case is South Africa. South Africa has the highest violent crime rate in the world that is fueled by ramped unemployment. Conventional wisdom would tell us to move far away from the cities that typically provide safe-havens for criminals to the country where it is safer; again, the simple life. The harsh reality in South Africa is that farming is the most dangerous profession in the country with security guards coming in a close second. Cities may harbor more criminals but they also provide more security services that secluded farmers in the countryside do not have access to. I have been living in a small town called Vryburg. On the surface, it is very similar to a small Midwestern town in the States. At first glance, the farming is also very similar. In reality, the dangers in South Africa are unfathomable to people living in small-town America.
I can’t help but think of Holcomb, Kansas when trying to compare rural South Africa with rural America. Holcomb is the setting for the infamous farm murders that shook rural America to its core. It was a senseless farm murder with no real motivation behind it. This murder has been made famous by Truman Capote’s book, In Cold Blood, and subsequent Hollywood movie, Capote. This one farm murder that happened in 1959 is still remembered in the American media today and still strikes fear into small towns across the country. In South Africa, farm murders occur with such frequency that they often do not even make the evening news. I do not have the actual statistics for the yearly farm murders in the country, but everyone I ask about the issue simply says that it happens quite often in many regions.
Farm murders are not the only major problem facing South Africa farmers today. The farmers must check their herds on a consistent basis to prevent stock theft. The unemployment rate in the country hovers around 40% and stealing stock is an alternative way to make a living for many people. The local stock sale every Friday has a high number of baby calves for sale. These are mostly all calves that have been stolen from the surrounding farms. Some thieves are smart about it and feed the calves for a week or even a month in an effort to disguise the stolen calf, but some can’t afford to wait that long and take the stolen calf directly to the sale. I have met a farmer from the Kwazulu-Natal region that has suffered eight stock thefts this year alone totaling R100,000 ($15,000). I have been staying on a farm run by Dick Richardson and he too has suffered from stock theft. On his farm, the police were the culprits of the stock theft. The problem was only resolved after a shootout. There are also stories of stock left being perpetrated by the farm workers. For example, when the absentee landowner asks the worker how many calves were born this week, the worker would say one when there were actually three. The trusting boss accepts this and goes on with his daily routine. When the boss does visit the herd, the worker will hide the two calves or sell them before his arrival. The selling of one calf will provide the thief with enough money to live off of for at least a month in most cases.
Dick has another problem that is much more imminent. His farm, Brussels Estate, is located on a prime stripe of land rumored to contain alluvial diamonds. Property rights in South Africa are not like in the USA. If the diamond diggers want your land, they usually get whether the farmer likes it or not. The same applies to the government. If they want the land they take it, and if you’re lucky they will pay you a fair price. Many farms throughout the country are being reclaimed by the government as ancestral tribal lands. The farm is then taken from white farmers and given to blacks with minimal farming experience. A farm that once supported one family is divided up among multiple families.
A perfect case study of this is in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe was once referred to as ‘the breadbasket of Africa.’ The country holds some of the best farmland in the world and at one time, its surpluses fed many surrounding African countries. Robert Mugabe, the leader of Zimbabwe, then started to expel white farmers, giving the land to unskilled black farmers. The result has been catastrophic. However, it is not all the black farmer’s fault. The government does not give them ownership of the land, only the rights to farm it. With no direct ownership, the farmers have no way to get loans from the bank and therefore, no way raise capital to run the farms even if they did have the necessary skilled required, which most do not. The citizens of Zimbabwe must now travel into neighboring countries to find food because there is none inside the country. Agriculture was the backbone of the once booming economy and now the farms lie in ruin.
I have constantly asked myself the question, “Could the same thing happen in South Africa?” As for now, if the government decides to take your farm, they will pay you a fair price; you will just have to wait three to five years to get the money. But, the replacement black farmers are still not given ownership of the land, only the right to farm it. This creates the same problems that led to Zimbabwe’s downfall.

In the face of all of these problems, the farmers in South Africa continue on with their daily lives like nothing is wrong. As I said earlier, everything appears to be in order on the surface. In reality, the future does not look good for farmers. As Dick says, “you don’t know whether it’s a light at the end of the tunnel or a train.” Their resilience is amazing and should be admired. One thing is for sure, nothing drastic will happen until after 2010 when South Africa will host the Football (Soccer) World Cup. Until then, the government is forced to maintain order and can’t take drastic measures like in Zimbabwe. After 2010, many key issues are debatable, including the direction of the country.