The Stranger in My Mirror

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The Stranger in My Mirror When I was a child, my grandmother used to say, "The border is something people draw on maps. Hunger, hope, and grief don't stop to check passports." I nodded whenever she said it, but I never truly understood. Years later, I found myself standing outside a small grocery shop in Johannesburg, watching a crowd shout at a man with a Zimbabwean accent. They called him names. They told him to go home. Some threw stones. I stood there and did nothing. In my mind, I justified it. They're taking jobs. They're making life harder. They don't belong here. I was Black. I was African. Yet somehow, I believed another Black African was less deserving than I was because he had crossed a border. A week later, load shedding hit our neighborhood. The only shop still open was the same Zimbabwean man's store. I went in because I needed bread. He greeted me with a smile. "How are you, brother?" Brother. Not stranger. Not South African. Not c...
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Eviction of black farmers raises questions about readiness for land reform

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State lacks system for considering rights of occupiers and lessees, says land expert

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23 MARCH 2021 - 05:10 LUYOLO MKENTANE

The eviction of farmers from their profitable farming enterprises by “rogue officials” of the department of agriculture, rural development & land reform has resulted in claims of more than R2bn being instituted against the department, according to the 2019/2020 report of the auditor-general.

Farmers who have lost hundreds of thousands of rand as a result of the evictions told Business Day the “dubious eviction orders” go against the government’s plans to release 700,000ha of state land on 30-year leaseholds to black farmers. The 700,000ha is land acquired by the former SA government for the consolidation of the homelands and which, after 1994, remained in the hands of the central government...

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