The land issue needs finality

I RECENTLY read comments on social media by a prominent South African NGO alleging that there is no land hunger among black South Africans.

This assertion is purportedly based on research carried out by the organisation last year, but there is no mention of which South Africans were interviewed and how or why they were selected. Nothing can be further from the truth.

However, it is not unknown for some organisations to carry out unscientific researches aimed at propagating certain partisan viewpoints and then go on to peddle these as facts.

South Africa is rated as one of the most unequal societies, and one way of reducing the staggering levels of inequality could be through land redistribution.

Those claiming that the ordinary South African does not need land are erroneously assuming that such land will always be for agricultural use.

Land ownership is empowering, whether the land is used for agricultural, industrial, commercial or residential purposes or as collateral for a loan that can turn around one’s business.

Those who own the land are fully aware of this fact and that is the reason why tempers are flaring in Parliament and other forums where this issue is being discussed. They are not willing to let go of the land.

As I am writing this letter, there are reports on television news that residents of Alexandra, a high-density suburb in Johannesburg, have invaded land in Midrand, near the waterfall cemetery, voicing frustration with the government’s failure to provide land for their residential needs.

The government must move with resolve and speed to empower the majority of South Africans through land, but my advice to all South Africans is that constitutionality and the rule of law must take precedence to avoid economic ruin.