EFF told to ‘tone down’ land reform calls

LAND Reform and Rural Development Minister, Gugile Nkwinti, has called on EFF leader Julius Malema to tone down on his calls for people to invade land.

Nkwinti told Parliament yesterday during a debate on land reform, that the land question was an emotive issue, but warned leaders to act responsibly.

He said he did not support calls by Malema to invade unoccupied land and said South Africa was governed by the Constitution and the law.

Nkwinti acknowledged in Parliament there was a still a lot that needed to be done to address the land question.

He said land reform was lagging behind, but leaders cannot use violent acts to occupy land.

But EFF MP Hlengiwe Hlope said they wanted expropriation of land without compensation. This flies in the face of the Expropriation Bill that was passed by Parliament a few months ago, which calls for the expropriation of land in the public interest or for a public purpose.

Hlope said the ANC government has been slow in addressing the land reform programme.

She said when the ANC came to power in 1994 it promised to transfer 30 percent of the land to black people by 1999, but today only 9 percent of the land has been transferred to black people.

Nkwinti agreed a large portion of the land was still in the hands of white people.

He said land redistribution remained skewed and government has a responsibility to address this.

But, despite the slow pace of land reform, the government did not condone violence. He said Malema was breaking the law by urging people to occupy land.

“I thought we should address this because Parliament should self-correct. All of us, it is not a question whether you are ANC or DA, we must honour the Constitution,” he said.