How White Agriculture (Re)Positioned Itself for a 'New South Africa'

Abstract

The theoretical context of this paper is a critique of the liberal vision of the transition from apartheid as a process of the universalization of market access (as well as of citizenship rights). Its empirical context is the trajectory of &dquo;organized agriculture&dquo; since 1948, including the creeping &dquo;deregulation&dquo; of agriculture during the &dquo;reformist&dquo; phase of apartheid in the 1980s, with the main focus on how highveld agriculture (re)positioned itself during the transition period of 1990-1994. The strategic goal was securing the conditions of reproduction of historic property rights, and a key instrument of this the consolidation of the giant summer grain (maize) cooperatives. These represent a peculiar form of agribusiness that seeks both to satisfy the demands of modem capitalist enterprise and to support the project of maintaining Afrikaner dominance in the highveld in changing political and economic conditions.With the end of apartheid, South Africa continues to be a capitalist social formation as liberal thinkers (long) maintained it could (and should) be, against those currents in the liberation movement that once argued the indivisibility of apartheid and capitalism, hence their necessarily combined downfall: the &dquo;no middle road&dquo; position (Slovo, 1976). The reasons for the way apartheid ended, and debate of them, can not be rehearsed here (see O'Meara, 1996). It is enough to note that the political stalemate of the late 1980s -a mutual exhaustion of contending forces, as Engels once put it -registered both the apparent impossibility of overthrowing the apartheid regime by mass insurrection and the continuously escalating costs to capital of maintaining the racial order. Development Studies,

Commercial Agriculture inSouthAfrica since 1994: ‘Natural, Simply Capitalism’

“…Contrary to conventional notions of ‘regulation’, applied only to the actions of states, Chabane et al. () use the term ‘private regulation’, an indispensable concept for political economy; see, for example, Friedmann () on the reshaping of the world food economy since the 1970s, and Bernstein () on South Africa. Chabane et al.…”

‘Changing Before Our Very Eyes’: Agrarian Questions and the Politics of Land in Capitalism Today

“…Even Merle Lipton -who hoped to see '250,000 plus (new) small-medium farmers' established by redistributive land reform -commended South Africa's first post-apartheid government for its 'caution, even diffidence' concerning redistribution by any radical means (1996,425,434), displaying a similar political coyness to that of GKI noted above. complicity of the National Party state (Pickles and Weiner 1991;Murray 1995;Bernstein 1996b). Immediately prior to and following the end of apartheid in 1994, it is likely that (white) agrarian capital was equally, if not more, exercised by the prospect of legislation protecting the rights of farm workers than by any significant redistribution of land, that is, fear of loss of control of labour rather than of land.…”

“…If not, why not? Also it should be noted that some white farm owners (not always themselves farmers) in some areas of the country were keen to exploit the opportunity to sell parts or all of their property at land market prices that had been maintained by National Party machinations during the political 'transition' of 1990-4, like the vast sums of 'drought relief ' disbursed by the last apartheid government (Bernstein 1996b). 36 Like a change of heart in the 'current consensus' of neo-liberalism, and the international financial institutions that uphold it?…”

“…Which, as we know only too well, is entirely promiscuous in its varieties of ideological dress as well as fairly constant in its core message: just trying to do its best for those who need its help most. Perhaps one of the effects of neo-liberal hegemony today is to increase 'the scale of ideological crossdressing' asNixon (1994, 152) memorably put it in the context of South Africa's political transition, when the forces that had flourished under apartheid were busy reinventing themselves to claim their place in the new 'rainbow nation' in ways that 'defied belief ' (as Nixon said) -and not least (white) agrarian capital and its institutions(Bernstein 1996b(Bernstein , 1998. On the other hand, in some cases the adoption of certain discursive elements in popular struggles -as on the part of established ruling class interests -may manifest a quite definite and conscious political tactic rather than indicating a fundamental ideological delusion.…”

Black Economic Empowerment in the South African Wine Industry

“…On black economic empowerment more generally, see Southall (2004) and Nattrass and Seekings (2005). 5 Amin and Bernstein (1996); Bernstein (1996);Landbouweekblad (30 June 1995;9 September, 1 November 1996); Die Burger (25 October 2002). farms advantageously, acquire irrigated land and supplies of grapes, and make profits from the enterprise. If the terms are clear and equitable, it is to the advantage of the new shareholders to have partners with a continuing interest, financial and reputational, in the success of their ventures.…”