{"id":6571,"date":"2019-03-11T23:41:07","date_gmt":"2019-03-12T06:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=6571"},"modified":"2019-03-12T02:47:37","modified_gmt":"2019-03-12T09:47:37","slug":"post4-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=6571","title":{"rendered":"“In South Africa\u2019s Fabled Wine Country, White and Black Battle Over Land”, Sunday New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Selam Gebrekidan<\/span> and Norimitsu Onishi,\u00a0<\/span>Front Page, Sunday, March 10, 2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A generation after apartheid, the Stellenbosch region is gripped by a struggle that pits white citizens who still control much of the economy against their black neighbors.<\/em><\/p>\n

STELLENBOSCH, South Africa \u2014 One cold morning, Stefan Smit, a white farmer in South Africa\u2019s stunning wine region, woke up to find his vineyard under siege.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n

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Anxious and angry, Mr. Smit, 62, drove his pickup truck to the highest point on his estate and peered down. Impoverished residents from the black township next door had stormed the land, clearing weeds and erecting 40 shacks in a matter of hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cI, personally, can\u2019t breathe here,\u201d Mr. Smit said later.<\/p>\n

Virtually overnight, Mr. Smit\u2019s farm, with its sweeping views of the Stellenbosch region, became a battleground in a bitter political fight that has split the nation and reached all the way to the Trump White House: Who should own South Africa\u2019s land?<\/p>\n

The fight pits white South Africans, who still control much of the economy a generation after the end of apartheid, directly against their black neighbors, many of whom are struggling to acquire a tiny patch on which to build a shack.<\/p>\n

A recent government survey found that white farmers like Mr. Smit control nearly 70 percent<\/a> of farms held by individual owners in South Africa. And the figure does not even include land held by companies and trusts, which account for the largest share of privately owned land in the country.<\/p>\n

Where Squatters Took Over a Vineyard<\/strong>: Residents of a black township took over a private wine farm in Stellenbosch, South Africa.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Before the takeover. After the takeover. Stefan Smit\u2019s private farm. Kayamandi Squatters\u2019 shacks. Mar. 28, 2018-Aug. 30, 2018.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n