Cape Town – Dutch gangsters came to South Africa and took the land, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema said on Tuesday, at the expropriation of land debate in the National Assembly.
"This is a motion which seems to unite South Africans. The land should have been returned to its rightful owners," Malema said referring to land reform.
Fellow EFF member, Floyd Shivambu said: "Legislations are deliberately delayed. He (president Jacob Zuma) must immediately sign it into law so that we can fight financial crimes and money laundering, there are also many other legislations that need to be passed into law".
Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) Deputy Secretary General, Christan Themba Msimang said that the government should prioritise giving land back to those who need it the most, while National Freedom Party member (NFP), Ahmed Munzoor Shaik Emam agreed and said that "the restitution of land is not good enough, no amount of compensation is good enough."
DA MP for Rural Development and Land Reform, Thomas Walters blamed the African National Congress (ANC) for South Africa's poor being landless. "It is not Clause 25 of the Constitution that leaves the rural poor in former homelands, without title-deed on the land they have farmed for generations. Rural poor are deliberately kept in poverty to lock them into voting for the ANC," said Walters.
Emam went on to say that radical economic transformation was needed and that the first step is for every South African to keep their dignity intact.
Referring to the loss of land for the majority during historical events like colonialism and apartheid, Emam said: "They need to address what they took and what they got for it. Expedite and excel the process of restitution."
DA deputy minister of state security, Herman Groenewald, said in his speech: "Stop blaming the white people for everything that goes wrong!"
Founding member of the African People's Convention (APC), Themba Godi said: "The fact that white people talk about reconciliation while holding onto wealth and land means the majority is being taken for a ride. Our people are treated as sub-humans and they are living like refugees in their own country. The return of land should be first priority in the transformation to freedom."
"It is the white messiahs that have put us in this position. The African people are suffering because of white property ownership," added Malema.