Zuma takes to Twitter to weigh in on land debate
Former South African president, Jacob Zuma, has taken to social media to share his views on the country’s current land debate.
In a series of Twitter posts published on Wednesday (2 January), Zuma said that the ANC made a clear decision in its 2017 national conference to move towards a system of expropriation without compensation.
He added that it was impossible to ‘change the facts’ of history and that thousands of people had died protecting their land over the course of the country’s history.
“The ills of the black people in South Africa – the bigger portion of it – emanates from land dispossession,” he said.
“You solve the problem of land you will solve the country’s poverty, inequality and economic issues. If you keep the land as it is now and sell it to people who do not have money, you are prolonging the problem.”
Zuma said that the land issue was not a ‘debate’ and that that the matter was clear.
“We are not saying that those who (currently) own land must not own land. We are saying that those who own huge stretches of land must share it with those who are indigenous and owned the land before them.”
“We are not going to dispossess them – that is not the debate as I heard it during the ANC conference – but instead use it as a resource for all South Africans”.
Zuma added that information provided to him showed that European countries don’t sell land to private people and was instead leased from the state.
He said that a similar system should be used in South Africa and that this ‘nationalisation of the land’ was in line with South Africa’s freedom charter.
Read: New bill shows 5 types of property that can be targeted for expropriation without compensation
Loading ...