In the midst of an unprecedented economic and health crisis one sector in our economy has outshone the rest. The agricultural sector expanded by almost 28% in the first quarter compared to the same period in 2019 and 15.1% in the second quarter.

Satellites have been sentinels in space, examining the earth since the 1960s to detect changing weather patterns, land use, deforestation, melting ice caps and fire patterns. They have also been used to identify atmospheric dust emissions.

At the beginning of October, the department of public works and infrastructure published the Expropriation Bill in the Government Gazette along with an explanatory memorandum.

The Expropriation Bill of 2020, which is essentially the same as its 2019 predecessor, was gazetted last week. It is intended to supplement the EWC (expropriation without compensation) constitutional amendment bill, which is now being rushed through the final stages of the public consultation process so that the Ad Hoc Committee can present it to Parliament for adoption before the end of the year.

South Africa’s land reform programme was supposed to ensure that the impoverished get to own and work the land. Now, only the politically connected and economically included are benefitting.

World Food Day on 16 October 2020 finds us – globally and in South Africa – in an even worse position than in 2019. By now, the severe impacts of Covid-19 on food insecurity are well known.