Land reform among hot-button topics for voters in Ventersdorp ahead of polls

VENTERSDORP - The issue of land reform is among the hot-button topics for voters in the farming town of Ventersdorp in the North West.

Since the dawn of democracy, South Africa’s land reform programme has been a contentious issue in the country’s political space.

The African National Congress (ANC) government initiated an expropriation of land programme. 

However, left-wing political parties like the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and African Transformation Movement (ATM) called for more radical land reforms to address South Africa’s past injustices of colonialism and apartheid.

It’s been a slow start at the Kgololosego Intermediate School voting station in Ventersdorp, with a handful of people coming to register to vote or check their registration statuses.

One of those people is Benjamin de Beer, a farmer based in Ventersdorp, who said he’s voted in every general and local government election since 1994.

De Beer said the land question was not easy.

“It’s not easy to farm. You can get a piece of ground but if you haven’t got the faith, the trust, and the luck, you won’t get further, you will just stay poor. 

"It’s hard work. It’s not just getting a piece of ground, you got irrigation and everything - but you’re too lazy to do something, always waiting for the government.”

Another farmer, Rudy Grobler, who recently relocated from the Western Cape to Ventersdorp, also had his say on the matter.

“That’s a very difficult question to answer but I personally think, we must leave that for the government - let them decide because our votes will count.”