When Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe began his campaign of farm seizures that forced white commercial landowners off their properties, neighbouring South Africa’s currency was hit hard. Fearing that the events in Zimbabwe would trigger a similar land-grab in South Africa, traders and currency analysts began an aggressive sell-off of the rand.
South Africans were indignant, arguing that the two countries were very different. Subsequent events proved the South African government’s resolve to avoid a similar raid on land: during a brief period when homeless people sought to occupy vacant areas, rapid response units were deployed to dismantle temporary structures and remove the occupiers. Even though the rand subsequently recovered, perceptions persist that it is only a matter of time before South Africa goes the same way as Zimbabwe.
