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AfriForum launched a campaign against the green paper on land reform today. Cornelius Jansen van Rensburg, AfriForum’s spokesperson on economic affairs, said the civil rights organisation’s campaign is aimed at raising awareness of the political, economic and social implications of the green paper among South Africans.

The campaign will include:

1. A mini-documentary on the objectives and implications of the green paper;

2. an online petition;

3. letters to embassies that set out the implications of the green paper; and

4. a report outlining the corruption and mismanagement within the Department of Land Reform.

The mini-documentary and petition can be found on the webpage www.stopthegreenpaper.co.za <http://www.stopthegreenpaper.co.za>

According to Jansen van Rensburg, the green paper makes provision for the state to drastically reign in South Africans’ right to own land, to be directly involved in the management of land, and to put a stop to independent valuations. Moreover, the state will be entitled to cancel title deeds and to seize land. ‘The green paper on land reform is nothing but a shrewd strategy to nationalise land,’ said Jansen van Rensburg.

The fact that land owners will not be disowned of their land at one fell swoop is what makes the green paper so dangerous. At first, people’s property rights will be limited and thereafter their land will be seized. ‘This approach is slower and more cunning than the land grabs that took place in Zimbabwe, but its effects will be just as drastic,’ according to Jansen van Rensburg.

The green paper is not limited to agricultural land or farmers only – it affects all South Africans’ rights.