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“The nationalisation of land in South Africa will without a doubt destroy food security in the country forever. Therefore all comments about the nationalisation of land is irresponsible and should be stopped,” dr. Pieter Mulder, deputy minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries says.

Dr. Mulder was the keynote speaker at the Red Meat Abattoir Association’s annual conference in Stellenbosch.

Dr. Mulder referred to the attempts this week to try and invade a farm, Zimbabwean-style, near Komatipoort in South Africa. He praised the Police for the professional manner in which they acted and defused the situation.

“The damage that such an incident could do to the confidence in the agricultural sector and to South Africa’s international image, cannot be underestimated. That is why such comments about nationalisation of land are irresponsible. The nationalisation of land will partially destroy commercial and emerging agriculture in South Africa. It will furthermore result in the exodus of agricultural expertise and commercial farmers out of the agricultural sector and South Africa to be irreversible. The nationalisation of land will force the banking sector in a huge crisis as land is being used as security for loans. It will also not resolve any poverty problems like the propagandists claim it would. These arguments are proven by comparing the agricultural successes in Zambia with the agricultural crises in Zimbabwe,” Dr. Mulder said.

Dr. Mulder predicted that the red meat production in South Africa will in the next decade have a larger increase than the average world meat production because there is such a fast growing new economic middle class busy developing in South Africa with new eating habits.