Mantashe warns against anarchy amid land grabs

ANARCHY “must not be allowed to flourish‚” ANC stalwart and new Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe said yesterday‚ as he condemned violence associated with land grabs in South Africa.

He was addressing a Codesastyle land reform dialogue being hosted at the Gordon Institute of Business Science in Johannesburg‚ with a range of speakers attempting to discuss the controversial issue following the ANC’s December pronouncements to fast-track change.

Mantashe said: “We should appreciate that when we took the resolution to expropriate without compensation‚ the pressure was internal. We agreed that the land that is available is made productive. The land that is owned by the state must be the first to be made available.

“Anarchy must not be allowed to flourish. It must be dealt with and we must allow law enforcement agencies to do their work.”

There have been several land grabs in and around Johannesburg and Tshwane, with authorities trying their best to stop people from illegally building shacks on unoccupied parcels of land.

And in the Western Cape‚ police have been battling a violent backlash after a thwarted land grab over the weekend at Hermanus.

Mantashe welcomed debate on land reform policy‚ saying: “Land expropriation is not a policy to drive whites to the sea. It is about fair distribution of land.” —