Any aspiring farmer would envy Nick Serfontein.

The Bonsmara cattle he rears on 15,000 acres of pasture in the high plains of South Africa’s Free State province are fat and sleek, prize-winning specimens of arguably Africa’s finest beef-producing breed.

With state-of-the-art feedlots, a modern abattoir and lucrative retail outlets, the Sernick Group he heads is one of Free State’s most successful agricultural ventures.

But Mr Serfontein is also a member of South Africa’s privileged white minority, who could — if certain politicians get their way — lose everything he has built up for years and receive nothing in return.

In South Africa, and much of the world, sympathy for white farmers like Mr…