ANCYL wants land reform without compensation

expropriation to speed up land redistribution and nationalisation of other key sectors of the economy.
Speaking at the league policy workshop held in Pretoria earlier this week, ANCYL deputy Ronald Lamola said the nationalisation of farms was unavoidable in South Africa, arguing that if whites delay or resist handing land over to poor blacks, the youth wing might opt land invasions .
“The whole world is moving towards nationalisation. Nationalisation is inevitable (in South Africa),” Lamola told the workshop.
The ANCYL is of the view that nationalisation will enable economic transformation of the historically disadvantaged black majority in the country.”
Every society that is serious about changing inequalities is nationalising and is having ownership of the strategic sectors of the economy by the state.
We want a situation where whites volunteer to give up the land,” Lamola said.
“If they don’t give back the land freely and without compensation, the youth league can’t guarantee their safety if a flood of angry black people take it back by force,” the young politician added.
Experts also say redistribution of land is “necessary” for South Africa but land nationalisation without “fair” compensation will be a recipe of disaster in the country’s agriculture sector and food security.
In a written interview with Xinhua, Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (ABCSA) chief executive officer John Purchase said land nationalisation on commercial farmland government should target farms that come to the market and pay fair prices for the farms and the process should “necessitate the expansion of property rights”.
“Land nationalisation, especially without fair compensation, would be disastrous for the agricultural sector, for food security, and for the country as a whole,” Purchase told Xinhua.
“Land reform is necessary in South Africa, and it should rather entail the extension of property rights to developing farmers,” he added.
Ramola blames Section 25 of the South African Constitution, which he said enshrines property rights for allowing whites to trade political power to black to gain economic power in a bid to reproduce another kind of apartheid.
He said all powers set to emancipate blacks economically “are locked there in section 25 of the Constitution.
“Speaking with the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), Rural Development and Land Reform Deputy Minister Lechesa Tsenoli described the notion by ANCYL as “an expression of impatience.
“The ruling African National Congress (ANC) has distanced itself from the Youth Leauge by voicing its opposition to radical land grabs.
On Wednesday, ANC officials met with representatives from the farming sector in Johannesburg to alleviate concerns about possible violent land grabs.
At the meeting, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe reiterated the party’s commitment to creating a successful agricultural environment in the country.
“It is not the ANC policy to expropriate land without compensation, and personally I don’t think it will work,” Mantashe said.
The ANC was engaging with both established and emerging farmers to achieve this goal, he said.
Afriforum, a civic organisation, and the Transvaal Agriculture Union (TAU SA) said they were preparing to lay charges against Lamola over his “hate speech”.
After the end of apartheid in 1994, the ANC pledged to hand 30 percent of all agricultural land to the black majority by 2014. But the government said it was impossible to meet the target. — Xinhua.