SA farmers in frontline fight for their land…

The law of land expropriation in South Africa is making headlines across the world. In this interview, Dr. Theo de Jager, the CEO of the Southern African Agri Initiative (SAAI) and the former president of the World Farmers Organisation, says: “If anybody is going to bleed it is us. If farmers don't stand together, they are delivered.” He warns that the act lends itself to abuse, and that farmers could not just assume that “you work with honest officials who really have the best interest of the state and the nation at heart”.  SAAI is currently in discussions to set up a fund to assist the first “victim” in court. “And in the meantime, we must push. We need everybody's weight in this scrum now. We must push back. We must try to get this act to go back to parliament and to be changed…And we need to make sure that we are safeguarded against the whims of officials, especially on the second and the third tier of government, where the risk is the highest of wild actions…” Dr De Jager also hails the role Elon Musk has played in US President Donald Trump’s move against South Africa over the signing of the act. “And although he is under severe criticism, the majority of farmers welcome the way he's shaking the cage at the moment, shaking out all the paraphernalia to get to the bottom, to the principle of things.”