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| New South African president wants to seize land from white farmers without compensation | New South African president wants to seize land from white farmers without compensation |
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| South Africa’s new president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has pledged to return the lands owned by white farmers since the 1600s to the black citizens of the country. | South Africa’s new president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has pledged to return the lands owned by white farmers since the 1600s to the black citizens of the country. |
| Ramaphosa promised that land expropriation operations will not be a “smash and grab” exercise, adding that people “must see this process as an opportunity and not as a threat.” | |
| “No-one is saying that land must be taken away from our people,” said the millionaire ex-businessman, who was sworn into office to succeed Jacob Zuma as president last week. “Rather, it is how we can make sure that our people have equitable access to land and security of tenure. We must see this process of accelerated land redistribution as an opportunity and not as a threat,” he added during a speech to parliament on Tuesday. | |
| The government plans to accelerate land redistribution through expropriation without compensation. | |
| “The expropriation of land without compensation is envisaged as one of the measures that we will use to accelerate the redistribution of land to black South Africans,” said Ramaphosa, who was previously an anti-apartheid activist. He added that the challenge is now to determine “collectively” how to implement this measure in a way that promotes agricultural production, improves food security, reduces poverty, and boosts the country’s economy. | |
| More than two decades after the end of apartheid in the 1990s, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party is under pressure to tackle racial disparities in land ownership in South Africa. The country is home to over 50 million people, with whites owning most of the land. | |
| According to a recent study, black South Africans constitute 79 percent of the population, but directly own only 1.2 percent of the country’s rural land. Meanwhile, white South Africans, who constitute 9 percent of the country’s population, directly own 23.6 percent of its rural land, and 11.4 percent of land in towns and cities, according to the Land Audit report. | |
| Ramaphosa, 66, said that land redistribution in South Africa would be handled properly. “In dealing with this complex matter, we will not make the mistakes that others have made. We will not allow smash and grab interventions. We will handle this matter in the same way we have handled all difficult issues our country has had to handle,” the new South African leader stated. “We will always seek to do what is in the interests of our people.” | |
| Congress of the People leader Mosiuoa Lekota, a former African National Congress member, lashed out at Ramaphosa and his governing ANC party over the land-expropriation policy, asking the new president to define who fits into the category he called “our people.” | |
| “This category called ‘our people,’ who are they? What have they done to deserve this kind of advantage over other citizens?” Lekota told Political Analysis South Africa on Tuesday. | |
| He noted that “the constitution to which you [Ramaphosa] swore allegiance, grants all of us the same citizenship and the same citizenship rights.” | |
| According to Lekota, Ramaphosa’s approach to land reform is reminiscent of apartheid, which he considers sad because the new president “came across as sounding as if apartheid must be saved, the notion of Europeans and non-Europeans or white or non-white.” | |
| “He is still in that mentality of apartheid, failing to appreciate that South Africa has become a united and democratic country. Unless he moves from that, it is going to mean that he must amend the constitution, the Bill of Rights must in fact be scrapped,” added Lekota. | |
| A similar program of land redistribution was already carried out by Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in the late 1990s-early 2000s. Thousands of white farmers were forced from their lands. | A similar program of land redistribution was already carried out by Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in the late 1990s-early 2000s. Thousands of white farmers were forced from their lands. |
| However, food production plummeted without the experienced farmers’ contribution, and Zimbabwe’s economy suffered a major slowdown. In 2010, the Guardian reported that Mugabe – who has since been ousted – used land reform to reward his allies rather than ordinary black Zimbabweans. In 2016, Mugabe signed a decree that foreign companies would face closure unless they sold or gave up 51 percent of their shares to black Zimbabweans. | However, food production plummeted without the experienced farmers’ contribution, and Zimbabwe’s economy suffered a major slowdown. In 2010, the Guardian reported that Mugabe – who has since been ousted – used land reform to reward his allies rather than ordinary black Zimbabweans. In 2016, Mugabe signed a decree that foreign companies would face closure unless they sold or gave up 51 percent of their shares to black Zimbabweans. |
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