Many have heard by now the astonishing decision by the South African Parliament last week to give the go-ahead for land seizure of white-owned farms without compensation. While the decision must go under constitutional review, the very fact that it is a consideration should be morally appalling to South Africans and the rest of the world, regardless of political affiliation or the color of one’s skin. Why? Because the decision to take white-owned land is inherently anti-Christian. What makes it anti-Christian? Well, let me explain by briefly laying out some of the presuppositions behind land seizure, and then I will lay out why these presuppositions do not fit into a Christian worldview.
This presupposition comes in many forms throughout the world and is very easy to finagle into an emotional “that’s not fair” kind of argument. It is still true to this day that white people own the majority of land in South Africa while representing a small minority of the population. However, this is due primarily to commercial and game farming, both occupations and industries that are vitally important to the South African economy, and both requiring extensive land to accomplish. Quite frankly, the loss of these industries would spell perpetual economic doom for South Africa, as food is needed to live (and South African food is some of the best in the world, by the way) and the game farms provide much need economic stimulation through tourism. One need only to assess the history of Rhodesia/Zimbabwe to see this disaster in perpetual action. Aside from the economic disaster that will inevitably ensue, it should be recognize that forced redistribution of wealth in any form (including land) is not a Christian idea (no, Acts 2 does not endorse political redistribution of wealth). It is in fact, an inherently communistic and anti-Christian doctrine that flies in the face of almost anything that resembles good and decency as a blatant violation of the 8th Commandment and has played out in every corner of the world where it has been tried in miserable failure, usually resulting in a profound loss of life or quality of life. We must ask the simple question: should land or wealth be taken from one and given to another based solely on the color of skin of the involved parties? If so, how can this be biblically justified? Perhaps because the land was stolen to begin with by the ancestors of the whites? That leads us to our next presupposition…
While I’m sure that someone could dig up some instances of land seizure by whites, typically land was appropriated by treaty with African tribes. The events that led up to the Battle of Blood River are illustrative of this (when the agreed upon treaty was not honored by the treacherous Dingane). The resulting victory by the Dutch Voortrekkers led to a lasting, though at times tenuous, peace with the Zulus. The long-term result of this “land grab” by whites has been the propagation of Christianity among the Zulus leading to many Christian strongholds in Zululand today. In a more general sense, the white settlers brought with them the idea of cash crops and livestock – this was not practiced by the indigenous peoples to any degree resembling what was common place throughout the Western World. The result of commercial farming (for profit) has been the economic betterment not only of those who run the farms, but also of the countless employees, many of them indigenous people who have benefitted from the increased standard of living. The consequence is that more land is currently in white hands in terms of acreage, but this will not be forever. As more black farmers learn commercial farming, the ratio of white to black farms will shift – but this must take time, not be forced, as noted above, the result will be an economic disaster.
