stills picture of the Steenkamp family/ around the dinner table/dinner being served

Schwartz:  For the family, this is the best part of the day - sharing the evening meal.

01.00.00.00

They're a close knit clan, devoted to three things - God, family and Arikanerdom.

Steenkamp family praying at dinner table/ serving dinner

Bertie:  Thank you for the food that we're about to eat. And please remember those who have no food. Amen.

00.38

Schwartz:  Every day they count their blessings. But every day in the new South Africa, they can't help but wonder if their blessings are fewer and fewer.

Bertie:  Well every week there's farmer killed...

Bertie

...and the government don't want to admit it. But it's like a war going on, a silent war against the white farmers in South Africa.

01.04

Music

01.16

Schwartz:  Bertie Steenkamp and his brothers farm 4,000 hectares in the Free State.

This is Afrikaner heartland.

Settled by the Voortrekkers last century, it became one of the first Boer republics - an independent homeland, which offered an escape from the colonies British rule.

01.43

Here the Afrikaners ran their lives and their land as they saw fit - a freedom which Bertie and brother Laroux, descendants of the trekkers, hope to reclaim by moving to Mozambique.

Laroux watching grain pouring into container in field.

Laroux:  We don't know what will happen to the white farmers in South Africa in a few year's time. And ...

02.10

Laroux

... if you could start a farm in Mozambique now, and things didn't work out in South Africa, then your life will go on.

02.18

Feet walking across ground/ Bertie and Schwartz walk with dog/burnt building

Bertie:  We were at a church meeting. It was a Wednesday evening, and the neighbours saw the fire and the smoke and so they...

02.37

Schwartz:  It's not surprising the Steenkamps feel uncertain about their future in South Africa. Three years ago, Bertie's family lost everything when their house burnt to the ground in an arson attack.

Bertie:  We lost totally everything. The next morning...

Bertie/shots of farm and burnt building

... you don't even have a toothbrush or some clothes. It was totally burned out.

02.59

Schwartz:  Bertie suspects a disgruntled black farm worker, but there was never enough evidence to charge anyone.

Bertie

Bertie:  I think it's also go a very big influence on our mind set to leave here, because you lost everything.

03.12

Black farm workers. Bertie talks to workers

Bertie: Good morning, everybody. Listen, I just want to hear from you, is there any trouble?

03.20

Schwartz:  It's not just fear, however, which is driving the Steenkamps to Mozambique. It's economics.

Bertie: And you, Jonas?

Jonas: Please Boss, I want to go to hospital tomorrow.

Bertie: You're going to hospital?

Jonas: Yes.

Bertie: What are you going to do in hospital?

Jonas: Yesterday I was at the doctor and the doctor said I have to go the hospital.

Bertie and farm workers/ woman working in the fields

Schwartz:  When apartheid crumbled, so did many of the farmers' lucrative benefits.

03.56

Today, the Boers are receiving less from the government, while their workers are demanding more.

In the fields

On top of that, there's the ever-growing pressure for land redistribution, and a crime rate rising along with the flow of illegal migrants from poor neighbouring countries.

All in all, reasons aplenty to move to greener pastures.

Bruwer.

Super: Senator DRIES BRUWER

Freedom Front Party

Bruwer:  It's just impossible to farm. You know, it's just impossible to farm in the vicinity of a squatter camp.

04.29

Schwartz

Schwartz:  Is it impossible to farm, or just impossible to make as much money?

06:54:06

Bruwer/ Bruwer show Schwartz pictures on wall/close up of pictures

Bruwer:  No, it's just impossible to farm, you know, you can't farm without making money. This chap was also a farmer, but he's not presently a farmer any more. This chap as well. He's also a farmer. This one's also a farmer... There's quite a few farmers here.

04.40

Schwartz:  Senator Dries Bruwer is a member of the Freedom Front, a right wing party, whose ideal is to create an Afrikaner homeland.

Bruwer:  We know we won't get a homeland at this stage for the Afrikaner, an Afrikaner owned territory at this stage. So we at least have to start somewhere.

Schwartz:  Senator Bruwer is also head of SACADA - the South African Chamber for Agricultural Development in Africa - the driving force behind the Afrikaner migration to Mozambique.

Bruwer/Schwartz

Bruwer:  This chap was also a farmer. We are the only - the Afrikaners - are the only white indigenous tribe of Africa.   So we are part of Africa, and we will cope with the situation but this is based on economical reasons because we don't want our economy being ruined by this influx of people and we must start to uplift our neighbouring countries economies otherwise you know .. we won't be in the position, in South Africa, to stabilise our economical situation, without stabilising our neighbouring countries' economies.

05.33

Schwartz:  So the settlement of Boer families in other countries in southern Africa, has got nothing to do with colonisation - a new wave of colonisation?

Bruwer:  No, no, no, it's a business.

Phosa/Schwartz

Phosa:  What we're doing, we're exporting our know how, expertise, and experience which has been built in the country. We're exporting goodwill to support democracy in Mozambique. And we have got the majority of white people here with this expertise and goodwill. And they mean well. Give them the credit.  I know them.

06.30

Schwartz:  Mathews Phosa is President Mandela's eyes and ears on the board of SACADA, a venture both the South African and Mozambique governments support.

Phosa

Phosa:  An economic thrust which creates jobs, economic growth, not only in South Africa, but also in the region, will contribute substantially to security.

06.59

Video image of broken bridge with car driving over/Bertie/Video images of cars driving through lands

Bertie:  So we have to rebuild that bridge over there...It is quite an experience. Look at that vehicle crawling up to it. It was really a frightening moment.

07.10

Schwartz:  For Bertie, the adventure of Mozambique is almost as alluring as its fertile farmland.

The Steenkamp brothers went on a reccie last year. Now Bertie and eldest daughter, Martaliese, can't wait to make the move.

Martaliese/video images of country

Martaliese:  It looks like a nice country, and I would love to live there.

07.45

It's open and there's no people who can tell you to do things you don't want to do.

Schwartz:  Mariekuhn, however, still needs some persuading.

Mariekuhn/video images of countryside

Mariekuhn:  I'd love to see the country. I'd like to see how it looks like and be there. But at this stage, I don't know whether we can live there.

08.03

Schwartz:  But Bertie, with his Trekker blood, reckons he'll be on the road after the harvest is in.

Bertie/video images of countryside

Bertie:  You have to experience that part of Mozambique to set your mind free, to let you start thinking and start dreaming dreams and so on.

08.23

And there, they've got a whole other attitude towards you. But I think the pioneering spirit is the biggest of all. Trying something new. I think that's the biggest thing.

Shots of Mozambique countryside and villages

Singing

08.53

Schwartz:  Mozambique is one of Africa's poorest countries. And Niassa, where the farmers are headed, its least developed province.

Singing

Map of Southern Africa appears over vision of countryside, charts journey and fades out.

Schwartz:  For the Afrikaners, it's anything from a two to ten day road journey, more than 2,000 kilometres across four countries, hauling everything from farm machinery to microwaves. Even the kitchen sink.

09.12

Singing

flowing water/children playing in river/

Schwartz:  For Bertie Steenkamp, this is the place of dreams, the wilds of Mozambique. For the de Jager family, it's already home.

Tinus:  About two years ago, I started fishing in Mozambique.

09.38

Tinus

I see the country and I said that's the place where I want to live for the rest of my life.

09.59

Tinus with farm equipment and workers

Schwartz:  Tinus de Jager was enthralled by what he saw as virgin territory. And today, is one of the first Boers to stake his claim.

10.08

He's moved the family here, lock, stock and barrel, with plenty of incentive.

Under the SACADA agreement, Mozambique is providing the farmers with free land on a 50 year lease, while the South African government is kicking in £3 million to get them started.

Ina:  We all have our families still in South Africa. We love the country...

Tinus and Ina

...But this is such an opportunity, you can't miss it. You know, and if you are adventurous, you feel like a pioneer, you know.

10.49

Ina in garden

Schwartz:  Ina de Jager is five months' pregnant, and eight hours from the nearest hospital. But she's thriving on the challenge of turning her family's campsite into a home.

10.58

She loves her new outdoor life, though freely concedes it's usually her black who waters the pansies.

Tinus driving car/workers chopping wood

While Ina's busy with her home making, Tinus is cutting roads, building bridges, and clearing the land on his 2,000 hectare property.

11.17

He's has some help of course. Forty-five workers at one third the price he'd pay back home. It's cheap labour for him, much needed cash for the locals, and as far as the de Jagers can see, everyone's getting along just fine.

Tinus:  We must make a success out of it. We feel already responsible for all the people who work for us...

Tinus and Ina

...because they trust you, and you can see, they need us.

11.57

Ina:  It's a country, here in Mozambique that's still building up after the war. The people want to work, they're friendly, they want us here.

Shots villagers at meeting.

Schwartz:  But that's not the impression we got when we visited the village of Lucheringo.

12.14

Man: They're doing their own thing. They're not going to help us. I don't think they're going to help us.

Marcos: Are any of these foreigners buying any of your produce- those people over there?

Crowd: No, they aren't...

Man:  ...because they're growing their own crops.

Marcos/ village men

Schwartz:  Marcos Wiriamo is a spokesman for the Forum for Land Rights, a group formed last year as a watchdog for local farmers.

12.49

Marcos Wiriamo

Wiriamo:  We feel a bit threatened knowing their history and the reasons why they want to leave South Africa to come here in search of land. What really worries us is not knowing whether history will repeat itself or whether their arrival will create conflict with the local population.

12.59

Shots woman with baby  in corn field/women carrying produce on head

Schwartz:  Most locals are small holder farmers, moving from plot to plot each year.

13.28

They have no trouble growing food - only getting it to market. Last year their surplus rotted.

The South African concept of virgin soil is strange to these people. They say, even uncultivated areas are used for gathering firewood, thatch, fruit and medicines. Hence their fear that the Afrikaners will take over their best land.

Idana Ali.

Super: IDANA ALI

Local farmer

Ali:  We're being told not to use the land we want to cultivate. That is why we are afraid that the white farmers want to take the land from us now. If there was a system of sharing, and the whites would help us, it would be better.

14.06

Virgilio Sabuni

But Virgilio Sabuni, a Mozambiquan official involved in resettling the Boers, says there's no need to worry.

14.40

Sabuni:  There won't be any problems in respect to land because the local farmers will still have their own area. The South African farmers will be allocated land which is not being used. That's why we won't have any problems with land.

Tinus watches farm workers chop down trees/

Schwartz:  But it seems Senor Sabuni is wrong. Unwittingly or otherwise, Tinus de Jager and the other farmers who have settled in this area, appear to have found themselves in the middle of a land dispute.

15.02

Following our departure, they were accused of clearing land without authorisation - the governor of the province having to step in to mediate.

Marcos Wiriamo says it only highlights the lack of consultation between local farmers and the governing authorities.

Wiriamo

Wiriamo:  If you're talking about consultation I believe there was no consultation because it was a government program. The government designed the whole program and later told the people about it.

15.38

Sabuni

Sabuni:  Well, it's true that we didn't consult the local farmers but the project was decided by the national government they recognise what the priorities and problems are.

Villagers dancing

Singing

16.14

Schwartz:  It's Sunday. The end of the week. And for the people of Niassa, the close of the harvest.

It's been a good year. And now it's time to celebrate.

Singing

Schwartz:  A few kilometres away, in an old state farm, a small group of Afrikaners come together for their weekly worship.

Exterior makeshift tent and building/Pelser reading bible/Boers gathered in tent church

Pelser:  I'm going to read a passage here-the story of the Prodigal son. It's Luke 15, from verse 11 onwards.

17.10

Schwartz:  The Boers too were celebrating. Thanking God for his grace in helping them settle in a foreign land.

They know that there'll be teething problems. But they believe that if, like the prodigal son, the sins of the past can be forgiven, and the shadow of apartheid cast aside, black and white can, together, build a new Africa.

Pelser praying/villagers celebrating

17.48

Schwartz:  Mozambiquans wants to believe that the Afrikaners will help them. But they've seen the Africa the white man has built in the past, and can't help but wonder if history is about to be repeated.

Chanting

CREDITS:

VOORTREKERS

Reporter            DOMINIQUE SCHWARTZ

Camera GEOFF CLEGG

Sound               SCOTT TAYLOR

Editor                STUART MILLER

Producer           SUE SPENCER

Research           SHARON DAVIS