African politicians and a U.S. land investor will explore Africa’s transition to investment darling of the world on an Al Jazeera talk show airing tonight and other times through Monday.

Among the guests are Nigerian politician and Oxfam trustee Nkoyo Toyo, who calls for World Bank to “pause” its funding of land deals in Africa until governments have put the framework, rules, regulations and principles in place to guide these kinds of investments, according to a synopsis on AfricanBusinessReview.

Toyo argued that much of the new scramble for land in Africa has not benefited the local population. She cited increased violence, forced evictions, homelessness, and farmlands being taken away.

“We are saying to (World Bank), ‘You need to put a moratorium on this whole process,’” Toyo said.

South African talk radio host Redi Tlhabi led the debate on the new scramble for Africa with former Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano; Toyo; and Philippe Heilberg, a land investor from the U.S.

“It’s not long ago that Africa was perceived as a continent of famine and war. Now it’s being hailed as the answer to the world’s food shortages,” Tlhabi said at the start of the show.

Chissano said, “The scramble for Africa has never been good… but investment is welcomed if it is done in a win-win situation where the people benefit from this investment.”

Toyo said at least 33 million square hectares of land have been bought in Africa in less than 10 years. With 60 percent of this land now being cultivated for export, these investments “are increasingly not addressing the needs of the continent.”

Heilberg said while he admits that there have been some clear land grabs, he believes that in those African countries with small populations and large territories there can be win-win situations.

“Land is cheap in Africa, but there are many reasons why it’s cheap,” Heilberg said. “In many parts of the continent there is little to no infrastructure whatsoever… The frontier markets offer incredible risk-reward opportunities if you’re willing to take that risk, because when the growth happens it’s exponential.  I like situations like that.”

Heilberg said he particularly targets post-conflict countries. “When they come out of conflict, they need investment; they need to build. And to me, those opportunities are phenomenal.”

Toyo said one of the challenges is that many of the victims of land sales are not involved in the sale process in any way. “Most of the grabs that are going on, the owners don’t even know about them, so there isn’t even a basis for that conversation to happen. The negotiations are happening sometimes with powerful people in secret negotiations. These non-transparent processes are depriving people down the line.

Chissano said governments play a key role. “They have to do their best to protect the people. In Mozambique, we don’t sell land. In Mozambique, we cannot buy land. We put it like this: ‘The land belongs to the people and it is managed by the state on their behalf.’ The challenge here is how do we make sustainable use of land?”

While Mozambique currently uses about 20 percent of its arable land, “We have to think of the generations to come… We will need this land in 100 years’ time,” Chissano said.

Heilberg warned there are limits to how far governments can push investors. “If you make the process onerous – and Africa is already a complicated place to do business – the investors won’t come,” he said.

This week’s episode of South2North premieres at 19:30 Greenwich Mean Time tonight (Sept. 20), and also at 14:30 Saturday, 04:30 Sunday and 08:30 Monday.