Agrisa to meet top 6 of ANC committee
An Agrisa senior official has told farmers in East London that they will meet with the ANC top six national executive committee members on Friday, to “persuade” the party not to go ahead with the planned amendment of section 25 of the constitution for the purpose of land expropriation without compensation.
Agri-Eastern Cape’s Brent McNamara told an estimated 500 farmers in Gonubie last Thursday that he believed a compromise would “unfortunately” have to be reached, “like what happened in 1994”.
McNamara did not explain the compromise he said was reached during the negotiations prior to the 1994 transition period.
However, numerous attempts to confirm the Friday meeting with ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe, were unsuccessful.
McNamara told the farmers that: “We are not naive, we know we are not in control of the political processes, but we also do believe that there is a possibility there will be changes in the constitution.
“We also believe there will be some compromise reached and unfortunately for you ladies and gentlemen, we will have to reach that compromise.
“We cannot destroy this country, we have to find a settlement just like what happened in 1994.”
He added, sparking a few giggles: “Some of our members have said ‘don’t look at their [ANC NEC members] lips because the minute they start moving they are lying’.”
McNamara also announced that President Cyril Ramaphosa had made three seats available on the inter-ministerial task team on land reform to agricultural organisations.
McNamara vowed that at the planned meeting with the ANC NEC members: “We will continue engaging with them and we will use every opportunity to tell them that this country cannot expropriate its way out of its problems.”
He said such problems could be fixed by “jump-starting the economy, giving people jobs and giving people houses”.
He made Agrisa’s point clear on the land question.
“As the organisation, we do not support it, we don’t condone it and we will use every opportunity to put our view across. As the organisation, we will use every legal means possible to oppose it.”
McNamara, an Alexandria farmer, pleaded with farmers not to get “too excited”, revealing that the association had been inundated with members asking for a “plan B” to defend their land in case the legal approach failed
“We have got some of our members who turned around to us and said what is plan B and we know exactly what they are alluding to.”
However, McNamara burst their bubble: “There is no plan B, we will talk, we will negotiate, and we will use the law to persuade government that this is not the route we are going to go. We are not going to give up on that because plan B will not solve our problems.”
A total of 500,000 written submissions have been filed with parliament’s constitution review committee on the land issue.
Only 160,000 of the written submissions have been reviewed, and so far, 90,000 submissions were against amendment of the constitution for land expropriation, while 60,000 supported the amendment, according to ACDP MPL Steve Swart, who sits on the review committee and who also spoke on the day.
we will have to find a settlement just like what happened in 1994