A recent visit by TAU SA to the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) of Zimbabwe annual congress revealed that Zimbabwe’s small coterie of commercial farmers - some of whom are farming on the fringes of their properties - are unwilling to leave the land they love. (Many of course cannot, and others won’t come to South Africa because they see the same fate awaiting them as in Zimbabwe).

The catastrophe of Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe’s land “reform” program has been broadcast to the world, but the real tragedy is watching your farm being destroyed by squatters who have either invaded it or were dumped on the farm during the takeover period. Calling the police to object is an exercise in futility.

Most of the 180 CFU congress attendees have been in jail, some of them up to fourteen times. Trying to take out your furniture from your occupied house is enough to draw the wrath of the regime – it is then that the police arrive with alacrity to cart one off to the station to be charged and convicted. Despite this, many of these farmers are convinced that their country will get back on its feet once the poison of the regime’s presence is removed.

TAU SA members saw the pitiful remnants of what used to be – macadamia trees at half their usual height, choked by overgrown grass and weeds, farms where maize had grown as far as they eye could see, now returned to savannah. The quality of the soil is outstanding, yet the excuse for non-productivity is drought. (There’s always an excuse in Africa, but for the record from 1991 to 2000, the average rainfall was 611 mm and from 2001 to 2010, it was 671 mm. From 1971 to 2010, the average rainfall never fell below 600 mm)

JOHANNESBURG/LONDON, Aug 24 (Reuters) - South Africa's handling of two disputed mine right awards has damaged the resource-rich country's reputation and raised investor concerns over transparency and governance.

Kumba Iron Ore, a unit of Anglo American have said the government deprived them of mining rights when it awarded prospecting licences, some to people linked to high-ranking officials, over areas where the two mining giants operated.

"The issuing of mineral and prospecting rights by the South African government is a process so fraught with danger that it is impossible to trust the authority not to steal, or be in league with those who wish to steal, your assets," said Nic Borain, an independent political analyst.

The biggest worry for the industry is that mining rights they have exploited for years could come under government review and they could lose a part of their businesses to companies with deep political ties and little experience in mining.

South Africa is the world's biggest producer of platinum and ferrochrome and the fourth-largest gold miner.

The mining sector's influence on the economy may have declined, but it is still one of the country's top employers, and accounted for 5.2 percent of the country's gross domestic product in the first quarter.

LONMIN  has been given permission to sell base metals from its platinum mines again after the Department of Mineral Resources rescinded an order it made last week that the world’s third-largest platinum miner immediately stop such sales.

Lonmin’s statement last week that the department had forbidden it from selling byproduct metals such as nickel and chrome sent its shares into a downward spin and raised questions both at home and abroad about the security of mining in SA.

Yesterday’s climb-down by the department, eight days after a letter to Lonmin, suggests it was too heavy-handed in its dealings with Lonmin.

“The department and ourselves sat down and they expedited a solution in double- quick time. We are grateful for that,” Lonmin CEO Ian Farmer said last night.

However, the appeal Lonmin has lodged with the department against its awarding of a prospecting right to Keysha Investments 220 over part of Lonmin’s Marikana mine has not been resolved. “The department said this will follow its natural course,” Mr Farmer said, but no time line was given for when a decision could be expected on the appeal, lodged in June this year.

Keysha is a company within the HolGoun Group, a family-owned investment holding company set up by Sivi Gounden, who served on the Lonmin board until October last year.

Agri SA distanced itself from the resolutions put forward for adoption at the National Summit on Vulnerable Workers in Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, today in Somerset West.  “We participated in good faith, but the Summit’s resolutions do not reflect the well-considered inputs of preceding Provincial Summits nore the presentations made by Agri SA in the plenary session and during the four commissions of the Summit during the last two days. It is clear to us that the outcomes of the Summit are aligned to pre-determined political views and aspirations rather than realities at farm level,” says Johannes Möller, President of Agri SA.

According to Möller, his organisation’s views and actions relating to farm workers will be detrimentally compromised if it accepted gross, unfounded allegations as a point of departure to give credibility to radical policy changes.  Progressive farmers are losing faith in populist processes such as those experienced at the Summit.  Agri SA will therefore consider other avenues for continued interaction with Government and other role-players regarding farm worker issues.   “We regard ourselves as part of the future of South Africa and will continue to seek solutions to foster sustainable employer-employee relationships based on legal compliance and ethical values,” he said.

In his address to the plenary session of the Summit, Möller said that Agri SA remained committed to sound labour practices, rural development and the improvement of the standard of living of farm workers.  “Farmers and farm workers work side by side to feed the nation and are dependent on each other for meeting aspirations and ensuring a safe and stable rural society.