Parliament – President Jacob Zuma on Thursday raised the prospect of shifting the goalposts in terms of land claims, re-opening the debate on whether the cut-off date for claims should be 1913 when legislation paving the way for black people to be dispossessed of their land was passed.
“I believe, as a son of a black man, being black, being on my own as always, that you need to shift that cut-off date, but you need to find a reasonable way of addressing the issue, within the Consitution, within the law…,” Zuma said as he veered off his prepared annual speech to the National House of Traditional Leaders in Parliament.
The President raised the question of whether the appropriate cut-off date for land claims should not be the 1800’s.
“Was a decision to make 1913 the cut-off date correct? Perhaps yes, but was the land taken in 1913?” Zuma asked.
“I believe in percentage wise, the land taken after 1913 is very small, very insignificant than the land that was taken…particularly in 18-something – that’s when the biggest chunk of land was taken.”
Zuma said currently the land claims process was skewed against South Africa’s black populace.
“The very law we have today to claim is lopsided against the black people,” he said.
“It’s very difficult to prove this land belonged to your ancestors. It is very easy for a land owner to say you don’t own the land.”
Zuma said land dispossession lay at the heart of the problems of poverty, inequality and unemployment facing millions of South Africans.
“We are dying because of poverty. There are many things that happen to us. Talk to your black intelligentsia to do research and think and innovate how do we deal with this question so we can addresss poverty. No need to be shy about it,” Zuma told the leaders from the country’s royal and traditional houses.
African News Agency
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