No benefit to residents

While visiting King Misuzulu recently, EFF leader Julius Malema did SA a service by clarifying that expropriation without compensation and the associated idea of state custodianship championed by his party (and many within the governing ANC) would not affect land under the Ingonyama Trust.

Since the king represents the state, this land is under state custodianship. For Malema this means people under its jurisdiction could access land without difficulty.

This contradicts a vast body of evidence to the contrary. Non-transparent administration, a failure to manage the trust’s holdings to the benefit of its residents and the unlawful collection of funds have been features of its operations. Earlier in 2023, the KwaZulu-Natal high court issued a scathing judgment on the trust and its treatment of those resident on its lands, particularly the creation of residential leases with rental obligations.

Land held by traditional authorities across SA frequently reflects similar problems. It is to the discredit of the post-apartheid government that very little has been done to enhance the property rights of millions of South Africans living in such circumstances. This is probably best explained by the political imperative of keeping traditional leaders on side with the ANC — something seen in the recent gifting of vehicles to traditional leaders in Limpopo.

This is a salutary reminder of what the expropriation without compensation agenda seeks: a politically constrained and manipulated system of property holding that will be inimical to growth and development but conducive to persistent poverty.

Terence Corrigan Institute of Race Relations