A possible land revolution will only be avoided if white people change their attitude to land reform and transformation is drastically speeded up.
This is according to ANC MP and chairperson of the National Council of Provinces' land committee Peter Moatshe, who was speaking during debate on the department of land affairs' budget.
"Those who have land are unwilling to comply with the sentiments of the Freedom Charter that we shall share this land," he said.
Referring to colonialism, he said: "The white birds that were crossing the sea to South Africa and the continent of Africa... that was the beginning of the threat to land.
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'The question of land becomes imperative' "It's where it starts. These are facts that cannot be disputed by anybody. The question of land becomes imperative, and that's why we are debating this budget vote today."
Twelve years after democracy there were still great imbalances that could no longer be ignored.
"Where are we standing on the question of land, are we really moving at a speed that will satisfy the masses of this country?" he asked.
Addressing parliament's second chamber, Moatshe said the government was trying to negotiate with white farm owners who were not interested in seeing black farmers being put back on the land. "The land belonged to the people of this country and therefore we made this challenge to those who have the land that they must make up their minds, otherwise it will be too late."
He warned that those who yearned for land were running out of patience.
'Make up their minds' "Unless we are blind not to read between the lines, the pressure is coming," he said.
But on a conciliatory note, he said the Freedom Charter did not say that those who colonised the land, must go. Rather white and black must share the land.
Moatshe said even the Bible prescribed that the land should go back to the rightful owners after 50 years.
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