Make it just and fast
THE land redistribution question has everyone talking and many people worrying. So much of what one hears and reads is very disturbing.
An example of the latter was a recent interview with Julius Malema on eNCA. It was so hate-filled, racist and arrogant. I am no expert, but feel compelled to contribute my 5c worth to the debate.
Regardless of the population group to which one belongs, there are basic realities to be acknowledged. The most important of these is that the current pattern of land ownership is grossly unfair.
It cannot be right that land ownership is concentrated in the hands of a small minority while the large majority live in poverty. So land has to be redistributed. It is the process of redistribution that should be debated and very carefully considered and enacted. This process will determine whether South Africa emerges with land redistribution accomplished in a state of prosperity and harmony.
Firstly, when is time zero? Why should it be 1652, when Jan van Riebeeck landed at the Cape, as many of those shouting the loudest seem to have decreed? At that time nomadic tribes of Khoisan people lived at the Cape. They had been driven southwards by other tribes earlier in history.
So they could rightly claim better grazing land to the north if the time zero clock were adjusted further into the past. My point is that attempting restitution based on ownership patterns at a time in the past makes no sense.
The only point of transformation that makes any sense is to start with today as time zero. We have to acknowledge that every citizen of South Africa has the right, and should also have the opportunity, to own land. Our constitution guarantees that we are all equal under the law. No citizen’s rights are more important than another’s.
So land cannot simply be expropriated without compensation from the haves to give to the havenots. That would require not just an amendment to the constitution but scrapping it in its entirety.
A just, equitable and SPEEDY way must be found, within the confines of our world-renowned constitution, so that all South Africans can be afforded the dignity of land ownership.
The complexity of the task calls for expert input into the process. A think-tank of our country’s and international experts is warranted. I am confident the process will be handled equitably and sensitively led by President Cyril Ramaphosa. — Joyce Miles, East London