Durban - ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa on Saturday addressed thousands of ANC members at the Groutville Sportsfield, in KwaDukuza, on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast, where the party was officially launching the Thuma Mina campaign in the province. He urged supporters in KwaZulu-Natal to use the Thuma Mina campaign to revive branches and get the 2019 election campaign on the right path.
Following a meeting with Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini on Friday, Ramaphosa said that the ANC led government "has no intention whatsoever to even touch" land under the Ingonyama Trust.
"We as government don't have one single intention to take land under the Ingonyama Trust and we don't even want to cancel the Ingonyama Trust because it is here and it is here to stay," Ramaphosa said to raucous applause from the crowd. He said he assured Zwelithini of the ANC's position on the 3.3 million hectares of land under the trusteeship of the King and that they had both agreed to discuss the issue further at a later day.
"We also had a wonderful meeting with Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, who was present during the meeting with the King. We want to be very clear that the expropriation of land without compensation is not targeting the 13% of land that is under the traditional leaders. We're not going to touch that land.
“I met with the King last night and we discussed a whole range of issues... when the issue of the Ingonyama Trust came up I felt the need to meet him... neither government nor the ANC has any intention to take land from the Ingonyama Trust...” ANC President Cde @CyrilRamaphosa pic.twitter.com/kMwFo4SHA6
— African National Congress (@MYANC) July 7, 2018
“The unity & renewal of our movement is a top priority; we have no other option but to unite and work together... we are all very clear about that...” ANC President Cde @CyrilRamaphosa #ThumaMina pic.twitter.com/CTWQw9uwfK
— African National Congress (@MYANC) July 7, 2018
"The land that we're going to target for expropriation is the 87% of the land and as we look at that land we're going to do it within the confines of our laws, within the confines of our constitution and we're going to do it as orderly as possible," said Ramaphosa said.
He said that they would base their targeting of the 87% of land on their 54th national elective conference resolution of land expropriation without compensation while taking into account the position of the country's economy, agricultural productivity and the country's food security. He urged branches of the ANC in the province to participate in the Thuma Mina campaign in order to strengthen the branches.
"Disunity of branches should end, hatred amongst comrades should end because we have to work together and unite," Ramaphosa said. He said the campaign should mean that the party should handle issues as they arise.