Home » WATCH The Lekota Challenge That’s Gone Viral: Who Are ‘Our People’?

WATCH The Lekota Challenge That’s Gone Viral: Who Are ‘Our People’?

COPE’s Mosiuoa ‘Terror’ Lekota struck a chord on Monday with his challenge to new President Cyril Ramaphosa to tell South Africa exactly who ‘our people’ are, referring to Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address that land will be returned to ‘our people’. Lekota’s outburst has since gone viral. The Congress of the People leader made […]

By SAPeople
21-02-18 10:34
in News

COPE’s Mosiuoa ‘Terror’ Lekota struck a chord on Monday with his challenge to new President Cyril Ramaphosa to tell South Africa exactly who ‘our people’ are, referring to Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address that land will be returned to ‘our people’. Lekota’s outburst has since gone viral.

The Congress of the People leader made the comments during the SONA 2018 Debate in Parliament, in Cape Town.

He compared Ramaphosa’s use of ‘our people’ to that of Apartheid’s National Party which divided people into ‘Europeans’ and ‘non-Europeans’, saying that now we have ‘our people’ and ‘non-our people’.

He asked Ramaphosa to clarify whose land exactly would be taken – those whose ancestors were the French Huguenots or German refugees fleeing Europe, or those whose great grandparents were workers and slaves from India and Malaysia.

He also asked the President to clarify to whom it would be given.

The reaction on Twitter was divided between those who called him #TerrorLekota and those who called him #LekotaTheCoward.

The EFF’s Mbuyiseni Ndlozi asked “which fascist from the National Party” had paid him to speak and “squash the land programme”, and asked what he’d been doing during his years as a prisoner on Robben Island.

Lekota’s main concern appears to be that land expropriation could racially divide the country and destroy the economy, which in turn affects the poorest of people. He presented similar arguments in March 2017 during a debate on farm murders, when he called on political leaders to speak up against those who say words which “make South Africans kill each other”. (The speech went viral around the world – watch below.)

This week Lekota asked Ramaphosa if he would be amending the Bill of Rights “because the Constitution is no longer relevant” if land is taken without compensation.

It is clear from discussions on social media and at dinner tables around South Africa that citizens would appreciate clarity from Ramaphosa as soon as possible on exactly who the land will be taken from.

Responding to the SONA Debate on Tuesday in Parliament, Ramaphosa stressed the importance of healing and building a nation together… and that in order to accomplish this, the most important people are those who are poor and unemployed.

“The most important people in this country are those whose shacks are flooded… with every rainfall, those whose taps run dry, whether there is a drought or not. It is those who have been looking for work their entire lives, those who have dropped out of school, those suffering from preventable diseases, who have been orphaned or abandoned, who rely on an old age pension… To me, those are the most important people. Those are our people,” he said.

He reiterated the need for land expropriation without compensation, and said: “We will need to determine, collectively, how we can implement this measure in a way that promotes agricultural production, improves food security, advances rural development, reduces poverty and strengthens our economy…”

Ramaphosa said “we owe it to our ancestors and to our children” and acknowledged it is a complex matter, but pledged: “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.

“We will always seek to do what is in the interests of our people.”

‘Terror’ Lekota, February 2018 (short version): 

https://twitter.com/AdvBarryRoux/status/965815678841360390

WATCH Chaos In Parliament. Angry Lekota vs EFF On Land Reform – full version:

‘Terror’ Lekota in March 2017:

South African writer Max du Preez, who has been friends with Lekota for three decades, wrote in a News24 column on Tuesday: “I was disgusted at the way so many johnny-come-latelies and people who until a few months ago prayed at the altar of Jacob Zuma and the Guptas jeered one of the few honourable people in Parliament who had the guts to ask uncomfortable but important questions on the critical issue of land redistribution.”

Du Preez said: “Before we allow land to be expropriated without compensation, we should establish the history of land possession and occupation through the last four hundred years. We should carefully consider what land we need to identify for redistribution and who should be given that land.

“And while we’re doing that, we as a people should put pressure on government to radically speed up real land reform in a sustained manner and convince organised agriculture that it is in its own interest to increase its contribution to this process.”

EFF Julius Malema’s warning to the DA’s Mmusi Maimane to get on board with Land Expropriation without Compensation: