{"id":60867,"date":"2013-09-20T03:06:18","date_gmt":"2013-09-20T03:06:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sierraexpressmedia.com\/?p=60867"},"modified":"2013-09-20T03:06:18","modified_gmt":"2013-09-20T03:06:18","slug":"south2norths-redi-tlhabi-debates-the-new-scramble-for-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/?p=60867","title":{"rendered":"South2North&#8217;s Redi Tlhabi debates the new scramble for Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Today on Al Jazeera\u2019s talk show\u00a0<i>South2North,\u00a0<\/i>Redi Tlhabi\u00a0debates the new scramble for Africa,<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><i>Nigerian politician Nkoyo Toyo calls for World Bank &#8216;moratorium&#8217; on African land deal funding<\/i><\/li>\n<li><i>Former Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano says scramble for Africa &#8220;has never been good.&#8221;<\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cIt\u2019s not long ago that Africa was perceived as a continent of famine and war. Now it\u2019s being hailed as the answer to the world\u2019s food shortages,\u201d says Tlhabi at the start of the show, which is broadcast from Johannesburg. \u201cEscalating energy and food prices have triggered a global scramble for Africa\u2019s land and water resources.\u00a0Eager to feed their growing populations, countries are buying up prime farmland in Africa at rock-bottom prices.\u00a0Land eight times the size of the United Kingdom has already been bought up. Many see the investments as a great opportunity for Africa. Others call it a tragedy, saying local populations lose their livelihoods to make space for new land-owners.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Tlhabi is joined by former Mozambican President\u00a0Joaquim Chissano; Nigerian politician and Oxfam trustee\u00a0Nkoyo Toyo; and Philippe Heilberg, a land investor from the United States.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_60868\" style=\"width: 458px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/sem.lamtech.sl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Nkoyo-Toyo.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-60868\" class=\"size-full wp-image-60868\" alt=\"Nigerian politician and Oxfam trustee Nkoyo Toyo\" src=\"http:\/\/sem.lamtech.sl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Nkoyo-Toyo.jpg\" width=\"448\" height=\"252\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-60868\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nigerian politician and Oxfam trustee Nkoyo Toyo<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Chissano says, \u201cThe scramble for Africa has never been good\u2026 But investment is welcomed if it is done in a win-win situation where the people benefit from this investment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Toyo adds, \u201cWe hear that at least 33 million square hectares of land\u2026 have been acquired in just less than 10 years.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0She says that, with 60% of this land now being cultivated for export, these investments \u201care increasingly not addressing the needs of the continent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Heilberg argues that the statistics from the UN are highly distorted; he says that his own figures have been doubled in some accounts. While he admits that there have been some clear land grabs, he believes that in those African countries with small populations and large territories there can be win-win situations.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cLand is cheap in Africa, but there are many reasons why it\u2019s cheap,\u201d he says. \u201cIn many parts of the continent there is little to no infrastructure whatsoever\u2026 The frontier markets offer incredible risk-reward opportunities if you\u2019re willing to take that risk, because when the growth happens it\u2019s exponential.\u00a0\u00a0I like situations like that.\u201c<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">He particularly targets post-conflict countries. \u201cWhen they come out of conflict, they need investment; they need to build. And to me, those opportunities are phenomenal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Toyo warns that much of the new scramble for Africa has not benefited the local population.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWe are seeing incidences of violence; we are seeing incidences of forced evictions; we are seeing incidences of homelessness, farm lands being taken away&#8230;\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">She says one of the challenges is that many of the victims are not involved in the sale process in any way. \u201cMost of the grabs that are going on, the owners don\u2019t even know about them, so there isn\u2019t even a basis for that conversation to happen. The negotiations are happening sometimes with powerful people in secret negotiations. These non-transparent processes are depriving people down the line.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">She calls for the The World Bank to pause its funding of land deals in Africa until governments have put the framework, rules, regulations and principles in place to guide these kinds of investments. \u201cWe are saying to them, \u2018You need to put a moratorium on this whole process,&#8217;\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Chissano says the governments have a key role to play. \u201cThe government is very much responsible,\u201d he says. &#8220;They have to do their best to protect the people. In Mozambique, we don\u2019t sell land. In Mozambique, we cannot buy land. We put it like this: \u2018The land belongs to the people and it is managed by the state on their behalf.\u2019 The challenge here is how do we make sustainable use of land?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">He points out that, while Mozambique currently only utilises about 20% of its arable land, \u201cWe have to think of the generations to come\u2026 We will need this land in 100 years time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">He believes that government should put food security for their people first and also negotiate for the processing of food to remain in Africa.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">But Heilberg warns there are limits to how far governments can push investors. \u201cIf you make the process onerous &#8211; and Africa is already a complicated place to do business &#8211; the investors won\u2019t come.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">As they explore Africa\u2019s transition from hopeless continent to investment darling of the world, the group discusses Africa\u2019s history of food dependency, the role of NGOs on the continent, and the ability of small farm owners to expand their businesses and provide food for the continent.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">This week\u2019s episode of\u00a0<i>South2North<\/i>\u00a0premieres at 19:30 GMT on Friday, 20 September 2013 and also screens on Saturday at 14h30, Sunday 04h30 and Monday 08h30.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><i>For more information, visit\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/programmes\/south2north\/\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/programmes\/south2north\/<\/a>, where all episodes are available to watch online.<\/i><i><\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><i>You can also tweet your questions, comments and opinions to @AJSouth2North or find\u00a0South2North\u00a0on Facebook:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/South-2-North\/255419671252120\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/South-2-North\/255419671252120<\/a>.<\/i><i><\/i><\/p>\n<p><object width=\"420\" height=\"315\" classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" codebase=\"http:\/\/download.macromedia.com\/pub\/shockwave\/cabs\/flash\/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0\"><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\" \/><param name=\"allowscriptaccess\" value=\"always\" \/><param name=\"src\" value=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/Wmsbu9vB2Pc?hl=en_US&amp;version=3\" \/><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"true\" \/><embed width=\"420\" height=\"315\" type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/Wmsbu9vB2Pc?hl=en_US&amp;version=3\" allowFullScreen=\"true\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" \/><\/object><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><i>Catch up on last week\u2019s episode, where Redi discussed the right to health, at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=iOIojofAMP0\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=iOIojofAMP0<\/a>.\u00a0<\/i><i><\/i><\/p>\n<p><em>Kevin Kriedemann &amp; Joy Sapieka<\/em><\/p>\n<p><b><i>Stay with Sierra Express Media, for your trusted place in news!<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<hr align=\"center\" size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" \/>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today on Al Jazeera\u2019s talk show\u00a0South2North,\u00a0Redi Tlhabi\u00a0debates the new scramble for Africa, Nigerian politician Nkoyo Toyo calls for World Bank &#8216;moratorium&#8217; on African land deal [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":59779,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[671,751,745],"tags":[16905,16906,16907,16796,16797],"class_list":["post-60867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-global-news","category-life-and-entertainment","tag-african-land-deal-funding","tag-joaquim-chissano","tag-nkoyo-toyo","tag-redi-tlhabi","tag-south2north"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=60867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/59779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=60867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=60867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=60867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}