摘要：When I started my doctorate in 2005, the then Minister of Land Affairs, Lulu Xingwana, had just caused an uproar by remarking that land reform will be speeded up by shortening the negotiation period for compensation for individual expropriations. Farmers, concerned that South Africa would become the next Zimbabwe, objected that Xingwana's statements were in conflict with land reform laws setting out the procedures to be followed for expropriation. They insisted on a reasonable commercial price for farming properties. The ministry, on the other hand, was of the opinion that farmers were making expropriation difficult by inflating property prices, thereby preventing the government from successfully returning property to people who lost it under "years of racial discrimination and white colonial rule". The government therefore proposed to move away from the willing-buyer-willing-seller model, intimating its intention to move away from buying property from farmers through negotiations, and using expropriation as a legitimate alternative method of land acquisition instead. This resulted in fierce media debates and reports of tension between mostly white farmers and the government.
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