Food sovereignty a viable alternative

The ANC’s and EFF’s support for a motion to amend the Constitution to advance land expropriation without compensation reflects the absence of deep and serious political debate in our democracy. ‘A race war in SA, over the land, simply means we all lose,’ says Wits University’s Dr Vishwas Satgar, in an analysis on the Mail & Guardian Online site. He argues that while there are there are differences between the EFF and ANC positions, both will result in winners and losers. He says radical non-racialism – which is not anti-white but anti-white supremacy – is another principled political position from which to engage the race, class, gender and ecological dynamics of SA’s unjust food system. The SA Food Sovereignty Campaign has adopted the People’s Food Sovereignty Act, which provides a compass to build food sovereignty pathways from below through households, villages, towns and cities. ‘It envisages a citizen-driven process but supported by the state, to build a democratic, just and sustainable food system,’ he says. The Act, says Satgar, sets out fundamental differences with the ANC and EFF’s approach to land reform. According to it:

* Agricultural land must be treated as having a social and ecological function.

* Small-scale farmers need to be given conditional-use rights of a maximum of two hectares of land as part of the commons but subject to the imperatives of democratic planning.

* The deconcentration of commercial farms must be handled in accordance with the Constitution, as part of a transition, involving a land audit and with a commitment to fair compensation to historically white farmers. ‘Finance, industries, retailers, mining companies and every fraction of (white) capital must contribute to this fund, given the benefits they accrued under apartheid and in the post-apartheid context.’

* The state is envisaged as playing an enabling role to ensure food sovereignty is realised as a democratic systemic reform driven from below.

Satgar adds: ‘The food sovereignty proposition envisages an alternative food system controlled by small-scale farmers and consumers but deeply embedded in society. A food-sovereign system will enable SA to confront the pathologies of a corporate-controlled food system (such as hunger, unhealthy food choices and globalised diets) while also enduring climate shocks. The winners in advancing food sovereignty are all of SA, thus affirming the radical and transformative politics that are possible.’