South Africa could find itself tackling the issue of land grabs if the African National Congress does not review its policies on land reform, the ANCYL said on Friday.
“We might end up having a policy that is not guided by the ANC.... We might end up having a policy that is not guided by us,” said African National Congress Youth League deputy president Ronald Lamola.
“It was only after a forceful mass action by the people of Zimbabwe that Zanu-PF ended up owning up to that role.... It looks like we are going to have that here,” he said at an ANCYL policy workshop in Centurion, Pretoria.
Lamola said the only way to end economic disparities was by amending section 25 of the Constitution.
“You can bring GEAR (the Growth, Employment and Redistribution programme), you can bring RDP (the Reconstruction and Development Programme).... If you don't touch section 25 of the Constitution, any other policies that you are bringing will only be a cosmetic exercise,” he said.
Section 25 pertains to property rights and sets out conditions for the deprivation of property, not only land, and expropriation. It specifically provides for reform.
Lamola said it was expected that white South Africans and investors would flee the country when “militant and aggressive” legislature was implemented.
“When the land grab process was starting in Zimbabwe, people ran away,” he said. “They are going to leave.”
Lamola said that when economic transformation took place in South Africa, some people would experience pain.
Also speaking at the workshop, National Union of Metalworkers of SA general secretary Irvin Jim said the biggest mistake ever made after the 1994 elections was section 25 of the Constitution.
He said it had served only to protect the wealth of the whites.
“Those who control the economy are seriously protected by that section,” he said.
He said white capitalists were now relaxed and happy after the expulsion from the ANC of former ANCYL president Julius Malema.
“Who is celebrating (Malema's expulsion)? The white people who own this country,” he said. - Sapa