Use dialogue to stop land issue getting ugly
Since time immemorial, one of the problems confronting mankind is how to share the land on a just and equitable basis and avoid conflict.
Wars have been fought and genocide committed in the name of the struggle for the land. The Jews and the Palestinians have been fighting for decades as both sides invoke history to justify and defend their positions. Unless something happens, peace will not be seen in that region until Jesus returns.
South Africans should avoid that suicidal route on the land question. Too often we forget that only yesterday this country teetered on the brink of civil war. In the year 1986 thousands of activists were detained under state of emergency regulations which authorised any person suspected of collaborating with actions against the state to be detained without trial.
The security police were boasting there was going to be another treason trial in the Eastern Cape – “‘n groot saak teen julle mense” (a big case against you people).
If criminal prosecution had happened the accused would have been in custody for years before the appellate division would have been able to find that the state had not proved its case beyond reasonable doubt, as it later pronounced concerning the Delmas treason trialists.
Emotions ran high and in our prison cells we spoke of revenge and sang “One day will be one day!” and “We want all our land now!”
We were five members of the Grahamstown Civic Association in detention. I was the publicity spokesperson.
On one particular day we were being transported like cattle in a security police kombi from one prison to another. We had no right to know where we were being taken. We were expected to follow an instruction to “vat your klere en kom” (take your clothes and come).
I remember the driver, a young white officer who seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the powers he had under regulations which were the equivalent of martial law.
We passed through Alexandra with its rich fields and fat dairy cows. As we drove the officer could see us in his rearview mirror, talking about the rich farmlands and countless livestock grazing.
“Ntsiki, can you see how a white man can plough the fields and have a lot of fat cows? Show me one black man who can plough the fields and have cows like those over there, I will release you right now,” he bellowed.
I quickly remembered how the land was taken from the African people some centuries ago. Sarcastically, I asked him to repeat himself which he did. I asked him to drive to one of the farms and meet the black men and women who were producing the wealth for the white farmers.
He exploded – clearly I was talking rubbish, clearly I did not know what I was talking about. My comrades laughed but cautioned me not to provoke the young man. Ironically, the African officer beside the driver laughed too.
The white cop’s utterances revealed his total naïvete – not only did he not understand the past, but he failed to grasp the trajectory of the present.
Obviously he could not have foreseen the momentous events of February 1990 when Madiba and other prisoners would be released. But convinced of his invincibility he insulted us all the way.
We were, he said, just causing trouble because we wanted to sleep with white women; we were spreading lies by claiming that white people stole our land; the Zulus were not afraid of the Xhosas and would teach them a lesson; Afrikaners were being unfairly blamed for Samora Machel’s death – he was killed by a stupid Russian pilot who could not fly properly; and Afrikaners were the most powerful nation in Africa – they could wipe out everyone else in a day.
I relate this to show how easily the emotionally sensitive and potentially explosive issue of land can be used to perpetuate chauvinism and racist stereotypes.
The Kempton-Park World Trade Centre negotiations only resolved the issue of suffrage for everyone. The land question was never resolved.
Now it is back to haunt our young democracy. And like a ghost it will keep raising its head until it is addressed.
Confronting it once and for all is the only way to achieve a permanent peace, national unity and reconciliation.
The ugly past is important to remember in order to avoid repeating it. However, the current mudslinging on the land question will not resolve today’s challenges of poverty and unemployment.
The insensitive statements being made will only divide society and resurrect old animosities.
The academic difference between “stolen” and “forcefully removed from the land” is irrelevant. The issue is how do we best use the land productively and to promote economic growth and prosperity for all.
Technical defences are dangerous and display a serious inability to understand the magnitude of the problem.
The land should be enjoyed by all those who voluntarily work it, and promising emerging farmers should be empowered with skills to use land productively.
No group should have a lion’s share, not even under the guise of land restitution as happened in Zimbabwe.
Oliver Tambo used to say, “The land question must be resolved and, if need be, the hard way.” Through honest and candid dialogue the hard way can still be avoided – before it is too late.
The land question was never resolved. Now it is back to haunt our young democracy