What the ANC government should not do is freeze like a rabbit, blinded by headlights, and hope that the passage of time will solve its policy predicaments.
Yesterday ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe was loud and clear about land reform and farming, not mincing his words when he spoke to farmers in Johannesburg.
"Your farms will not be grabbed without compensation," he said.
Since Julius Malema's Economic Freedom Fighters proposed that farms be taken without compensation a lot of misinformation has gone the rounds but neither the ANC nor the government has taken the trouble to put the record straight.
It is important that the ANC speak clearly about policy direction. By remaining silent it creates unnecessary frustration and unfounded fears.
Land and how the black majority gets access to it is the biggest challenge this government faces .
The willing-buyer, willing-seller model did not work well , so we must look for new ways .
We have seen that in other countries crude populist policies have destroyed farming and food security.
Our government must be bold and build a sustainable farming sector.
Those who say that blacks can't farm forget that they were thriving as farmers before they were dispossessed of their land at the stroke of a pen. Colonialism and the 1913 Land Act not only destroyed black farming but erased the progress that had been made in land management.
The approach proposed by the EFF fails to look at the needs of black farmers and at what needs to be done to preserve food security.
We fully agree with Mantashe that the government should subsidise development, not inefficiency.
Today's successful white farmers were not born that way. The previous government deluged them with money and other assistance. Farming is not about skin colour but about efficiency and food security.
The government must not be a rabbit in the middle of the freeway.
Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package. 
