ANC Calls For “Rethink” On Expropriation

Calling South Africa’s current race-to-land proportions “untennable”, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe has called for an end to free market “willing-buyer/willing seller” laws in the country and a “rethink” on the dreaded Expropriation Bill, which was defeated this past August.

At the time of the scrapping of the dreaded Expropriation Bill, Mantashe said the debate was far from over and a re-write of the Bill have to find “a balance between ‘white fears’ and ‘black aspirations’”. Racial and societal pressures have been compounded by rising food prices and calls from partners the South African Communist Party (SACP) and Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) bring back land redistribution as an issue.

“Land redistribution cannot depend on the willingness of those who own to sell,” Mantashe said at the end of weekend summit of South Africa’s governing alliance that reviewed economic policy driving the country forward after elections in 2009. He added that there should be an “evaluation of land and expropriation thereof.”

While white South Africans have lawfully owned their land for generations going back to before the creation of the Union of South Africa or even blacks inhabited the region, no good reason has been for a forced expropriation of land in the country.

Related posts:

1. Expropriation Bill To Be Re-Written
2. Expropriation Bill “Scrapped”
3. Expropriation Bill “Shelved”
4. Land Expropriation May Be Key Issue
5. Expropriation Bill May Come Back