Land issue needs cool heads to avert chaos

“LAND, land everywhere, nor an acre to live on” – with apologies to Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Rime of the Ancient Mariner).

Perhaps the greatest issue since the dismantling of apartheid that will take centre stage in the run-up to next year’s national general elections is the complex matter of the expropriation of land without compensation. The historical perspective with regards to land and who it belongs to has been the subject of intense debate for centuries, even leading to war – the Israeli-Palestine issue is a glaring example.

South Africa faces what could become a highly divisive, confrontational problem as the EFF fuels the fire that has been lit by President Cyril Ramaphosa – that of expropriation of land without compensation. It is unarguable that most South Africans, particularly black ones, have borne the brunt of our colonial and apartheid legacy in terms of being denied land ownership.

That there must be redress and restitution.

However, the dilemma that confronts us is not when but how such redistribution, or rather expropriation, is going to take place.

Who exactly will be the beneficiaries? Simply referring to “our people” excites the emotions palpably in millions of our citizens.

The flames of hope and entitlement suddenly become a reality in many, as political leaders make capital on an issue bound to create many logistical problems.

Unquestionably, the white population have milked the use of our land, taking prime property for themselves that was used for development of their “suburbs”, while creating “townships” for those of a different hue.

Likewise, ownership of farms was the preserve of the white population while they subjugated the black population into subservience, making them toil for little recompense.

The status quo that once formed the fundamental bedrock of the wealth in South Africa was evidently ensconced in a particular racial grouping of our country, and to a great degree, still is.

There are over 45 million of our compatriots who could easily lay claim to some form of “ownership” as a result of their lineage as “black” people from whom land was “stolen”.

Does this mean every black citizen should be entitled to some form of land ownership by virtue of their lineage?

By the contention of many, of course it does. After all, if the argument is that their forebears were usurped of their rightful ownership of their land, surely they must be given their land back?

The critical question then begs, who gets what land, and where and on what basis will such allocations of land be made? Further, what of the developments made on the land to be expropriated in terms of infrastructure etc?

It could well be argued, as it was in the Shakespearean drama, The Merchant of Venice, that a “pound of flesh” could be had, but there must not be a drop of blood shed, metaphorically speaking. Take the land without compensation by all means, but dare not touch the infrastructure, implements, vehicles or any construction that one is not entitled to.

This becomes a complex legal matter and is easier said than done.

Worse, the South African population is not simply black and white. The Indian and coloured communities are as integral to the cause of this country, albeit not considered indigenous.

Do they get included in the “our people” category or are they once again relegated to being “second-class” citizens?

Mosiuoa Lekota, president of the Congress of the People (Cope), was shouted down in Parliament when he raised this matter. His pearls of wisdom on the dire consequences of land grabbing/expropriation without compensation was the voice of sanity and reason.

Derision

It elicited nothing but derision from the ANC and EFF stooges, whose mob mentality is an insult to the term “honourable” to address the present crop of parliamentarians.

At present, the instigator of chaos in Parliament, blabber-mouth Julius Malema, considers himself the commander-in-chief, championing the cause for revolutionary changes without regard for the detrimental consequences that would damage the economic standing of South Africa – or what’s left of it.

As a disciple of Robert Mugabe, he is blind to what this tyrant did to his country, reducing it from being the bread-basket of Africa to a begging bowl.

Due to numerical superiority in population and in Parliament, the ANC could become the new catalyst of perdition in a pyrrhic victory. And like PB Shelley’s Ozymandiaz, a Malema clone might well declare, “look on my works, ye mighty and despair, Nothing else remains. The lone and level sands stretch far away”.

Due to racial classification, the Indian and coloured communities, despite one being an immigrant population and the other having their roots partly with the indigenous people, share the homogeneity of oppression and disenfranchisement.

They, too, were also unceremoniously removed from their abodes – the Indians from Cato Manor in KZN and the coloureds from District Six in the Cape.

What of the privileged “black” citizens – such as tribal chiefs and “kings”, who control vast tracts of land and whose “subjects” live on such land?

Taking away such land and allocating it to individuals is bound to create acrimony and discontent, as these traditional leaders wield great power over people by their “ownership” of the land; and noting their zest for power, any dilution of their power base will elicit dissension, if not violence.

The issue of the Khoi and San people, who have been fighting their cause vigorously over many decades to be granted recognition as “owners” of this land, cannot be ignored either.

The late Khoisan X, also known as Benny Alexander, was a fierce fighter for these people who lay claim as the original inhabitants of South Africa. The hinterland of South Africa boasts some of the best agricultural land in the world.

Admittedly, most is farmed by white farmers and many have, over the decades, developed these farms into viable outposts for food production.

We witnessed the land grab that occurred in Zimbabwe during Robert Mugabe’s despotic reign. It was a glaring yet horrific reminder to us all that while considered a noble act on behalf of the people, the consequences can be catastrophic if such acts occur in the manner in which they did.

Many farms still remain fallow in Zimbabwe, as those who took them over had no idea about the scientific innovations farming entails.

The anticipation in South Africa with regards to the land issue has heightened tremendously since President’s Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation address, but the handling of this delicate issue on the one hand could be like a knife in the hands of a skilled surgeon, or it could very well be like a knife in the hands of a madman.

Alexander Pope may have warned us in his Essay on Criticism, when he said, “For fools rush in where angels fear to tread” – an ominous portent that must not be ignored as caution is thrown to the wind.