Home » WATCH South Africa Grapples with Burning Question of Land

WATCH South Africa Grapples with Burning Question of Land

Ever since South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa announced last week that the ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), has resolved to make an amendment to the constitution to explicitly allow for conditional expropriation of land without compensation, tensions have run high in the country. While Ramaphosa was very clear that the reforms will NOT […]

By Jenni Baxter
08-08-18 00:37
in News

Ever since South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa announced last week that the ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), has resolved to make an amendment to the constitution to explicitly allow for conditional expropriation of land without compensation, tensions have run high in the country.

While Ramaphosa was very clear that the reforms will NOT compromise food security or economic growth, as happened in neighbouring Zimbabwe, and that the intention is to “increase agricultural productivity and food security”… the uncertainty of how the expropriation will unfold has triggered fear amongst some that SA will become “another Zimbabwe”.

Many – including the man in the video below – have voiced concerns that politicians, from all parties, are promising the unachievable, and are all attempting merely to score political points without concern for the devastating impact it could have on the South African economy.

https://www.facebook.com/UNCUTSA/videos/2186199671622692/

In the last couple of days social media and local media outlets have been drowning in videos such as the above; as well as in open letters, op ed pieces and messages focused on SA’s burning question: land reform.

And sadly in some of those videos SA has indeed been burning.

Community members torched a Kranskop farm in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands after the farmer allegedly dug up grave sites to plant mielies. Times Lives reported that police were called out on Tuesday morning to help quell tensions. The local chief called for calm and told the community that a meeting has been arranged for 15 August to find a solution.

According to Times Live, the date was given as a D-Day of sorts, with the chief saying: “I think on that day we will find a solution and get the land we want. But if there is no solution you must continue what you are doing.”

Burning in the KZN Midlands

Meanwhile a video from the Western Cape, posted by News24, has gone viral. It shows vacant land in Stellenbosch that had been invaded, with over 100 structures built on it. News24 said the owners of Louiesenhof Wines “obtained an urgent interdict on Saturday to prevent more people from erecting more structures.”

WATCH More than 100 structures erected on Stellenbosch wine farm

According to City Press, the ANC has already selected 139 farms which will be expropriated without compensation within the next couple of months.

City Press said it has “learnt that the NEC has given the green light to its deployees in government, specifically the department of rural development and land affairs, to forge ahead with the process at the Land Claims Court, in which the state will for the first time refuse to pay market value for identified land portions in various parts of the country.”

It will hopefully be a chance for Ramaphosa and his government to show how well their plan can work… and that it can succeed if supported by a nation that dreams of a better South Africa, where there is more employment, more productive participation in the economy, and therefore less crime.

If Ramaphosa can convince all of the people to get behind him, to have faith that he has the country’s best interests at heart, that he knows what he is doing… this could be the start of a redressing of past inequalities that inspires not only the world, but more importantly South Africans at home who have always found a way to unite when the going gets tough.