Zimbabwe will one day be a "shining example of black economic empowerment" to South Africa, an editorial in that country's Herald online said on Thursday.

"Wisdom should have convinced the white community in South Africa that they need to cooperate with the South African government to address the inequalities prevalent in that country," the editorial read.

"In the same way that Zimbabweans got frustrated with the willing buyer-willing seller approach, the South Africans will also begin to take what is rightfully theirs by force if they see no progress in land redistribution."

The writer said that the fruits of Zimbabwe's land reform programme were beginning to be seen.

"The huge payouts that new tobacco farmers are getting from the auction floors are transforming their lives."

Zimbabwe was seen as the "bad apple" in the region led by a "delinquent leader" because it was dealing with the historic, social and economic injustices of over 100 years of colonial rule.

"But now the chickens are coming home to roost for South Africa."

The writer found it sad that African National Congress Youth League president Julius Malema's call for redistribution of wealth was being "myopically dismissed by the whites in South Africa as madness on the part of Cde Malema".

"Yet his frustrations are widely shared across South Africa. Ominously, they point to the struggles for the control of resources that will soon be visiting that country."