Jacob Zuma says colonized black South Africans will only achieve freedom through the expropriation of land.
The issue of land ownership in South Africa is very controversial. 70 percent of farming lands are controlled by whites who form nine percent of the 56 million population.
After the apartheid, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) government followed a policy that allows for white landowners to willingly sell their lands to the government which then redistributes to blacks.
But the land issue is at the center of South Africa’s racial inequality. It underpins the apartheid regime and has not disappeared yet even after the end of apartheid.
Last year South Africa’s parliament adopted a motion seeking to amend the country’s Constitution to allow for the expropriation of land without compensation.
Zuma pushes for land takeover
Mr. Zuma said in a video released on his Twitter page on Wednesday that “The struggles, the wars that were fought, many thousands and thousands of people died defending their land.”
“Some were actually removed from a huge stretch of land in the Western Cape in particular. You can’t say those things did not happen nor can you say because it happened fine.
“The freedom will not be complete if the issue of land is not resolved and people who were colonized and their lands were taken away by force have their land,” Zuma said.
My opinion on the land issue – 1 pic.twitter.com/TpWZSUUivv
— Jacob G Zuma (@PresJGZuma) January 2, 2019
According to Mr. Zuma, the ills of black people in South Africa, the bigger portion of it emanates from the land dispossession.
Can land fix poverty in South Africa?
He said solving the problem of land is akin to solving “the poverty in this country, inequalities, and economic issues.”
My opinion on the land issue – 2 pic.twitter.com/S0zS3h07Dl
— Jacob G Zuma (@PresJGZuma) January 2, 2019
A 2017 land audit report by the department of land reform states 72% of farmland is owned by white owners, followed by coloreds (people of mixed race) at 15%, Indians at 5% and blacks at 4%.
President Cyril Ramaphosa after taking over from Jacob Zuma made the change to the constitution on the land issue a major policy.
Public hearings on land expropriation without compensation have been held across South Africa. Majority of South Africans are in support of the reforms, local media reports.
But critics like Afriforum, an advocacy group that mostly represents white Afrikaners, is questioning the legality of this decision.
Source: Africafeeds.com
