White people who own land in SA bought it, so if the government wants their land‚ it must pay for it as they did – not get it for free, COPE leader Mosiuoa Lekota says.
Lekota said in an interview he believed the move to expropriate land without compensation was misplaced.
He said the preamble of the constitution clearly indicated that SA did not belong to a group or a certain race‚ but to all who lived in it.
Lekota said the values enshrined in the constitution were meant to redress the injustices of the past‚ but not by attempting to treat blacks as a superior race.
He rejected the view perpetuated by some political commentators that white people received land for free from the apartheid government and should therefore not be compensated.
“I want to kill this myth that there are white families that were given land for free,” he said. “That is not true.
“It was not given [to whites] for free. Never!
“Remember, this is a capitalist society.
“You may have had some deals like the fraud we are experiencing in our time where government officials can be corrupt.
“You may have had something like that. But as a general rule‚ everybody had to buy the property that they have.
“I’m saying to you, go to any white family that you like.
“Show me a family that will not be able to show you a title deed for the land they bought.
“Go to the deeds office – check there‚ whether there is any property that was given free to anybody.
“This is another thing you can help the public with.
“Check and see if you can find that Van Rooyen‚ Van Meulen ... was given land free.”
Lekota said if the government needed land for development‚ there was already provision in the constitution for expropriation‚ providing the state compensated owners.
Lekota was adding his voice to the present land debate.
On June 26‚ hearings into the expropriation of land without compensation started in Springbok‚ Northern Cape.
The hearings were organised by the parliamentary Joint Constitutional Review Committee which is looking into possibly reviewing section 25 of the constitution.
This comes after the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces instructed the committee to determine if reviewing this section and other clauses is necessary to enable the government to expropriate land in the “public interest without compensation”.
Lekota said it was true that the apartheid government had taken land from Africans‚ but not that it was freely handed out to white people.
“People think that what happened to this land is that it went to the government and the government gave it freely to the whites‚ which is not true.
“It got registered in the deeds office.
“They recorded that this property which once belonged to so and so has now been taken by the government.
“Later‚ the apartheid government made these properties available for the whites to buy.
“They bought it – but not all of it. They could not buy all of it. White people are just about 10% of the population.
“The majority of the land I am talking about is still in the hands of the government.”
Lekota said the fight against apartheid was meant to develop an equal society where citizens enjoyed equal rights.
“What we are saying is that the Republic of SA is one democratic‚ sovereign state. No more divisions.”
Whites didn’t get land free – Lekota
Image: www.pexels.com
White people who own land in SA bought it, so if the government wants their land‚ it must pay for it as they did – not get it for free, COPE leader Mosiuoa Lekota says.
Lekota said in an interview he believed the move to expropriate land without compensation was misplaced.
He said the preamble of the constitution clearly indicated that SA did not belong to a group or a certain race‚ but to all who lived in it.
Lekota said the values enshrined in the constitution were meant to redress the injustices of the past‚ but not by attempting to treat blacks as a superior race.
He rejected the view perpetuated by some political commentators that white people received land for free from the apartheid government and should therefore not be compensated.
“I want to kill this myth that there are white families that were given land for free,” he said. “That is not true.
“It was not given [to whites] for free. Never!
“Remember, this is a capitalist society.
“You may have had some deals like the fraud we are experiencing in our time where government officials can be corrupt.
“You may have had something like that. But as a general rule‚ everybody had to buy the property that they have.
“I’m saying to you, go to any white family that you like.
“Show me a family that will not be able to show you a title deed for the land they bought.
“Go to the deeds office – check there‚ whether there is any property that was given free to anybody.
“This is another thing you can help the public with.
“Check and see if you can find that Van Rooyen‚ Van Meulen ... was given land free.”
Lekota said if the government needed land for development‚ there was already provision in the constitution for expropriation‚ providing the state compensated owners.
Lekota was adding his voice to the present land debate.
On June 26‚ hearings into the expropriation of land without compensation started in Springbok‚ Northern Cape.
The hearings were organised by the parliamentary Joint Constitutional Review Committee which is looking into possibly reviewing section 25 of the constitution.
This comes after the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces instructed the committee to determine if reviewing this section and other clauses is necessary to enable the government to expropriate land in the “public interest without compensation”.
Lekota said it was true that the apartheid government had taken land from Africans‚ but not that it was freely handed out to white people.
“People think that what happened to this land is that it went to the government and the government gave it freely to the whites‚ which is not true.
“It got registered in the deeds office.
“They recorded that this property which once belonged to so and so has now been taken by the government.
“Later‚ the apartheid government made these properties available for the whites to buy.
“They bought it – but not all of it. They could not buy all of it. White people are just about 10% of the population.
“The majority of the land I am talking about is still in the hands of the government.”
Lekota said the fight against apartheid was meant to develop an equal society where citizens enjoyed equal rights.
“What we are saying is that the Republic of SA is one democratic‚ sovereign state. No more divisions.”
Implementation key to policy
'Let the land save lives'
Malema in court on land invasion charges
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Latest Videos
Most Read
News
News
News
News
News