Land report criticism is water off Motlanthe’s back

Former president Kgalema Motlanthe is not perturbed by the criticism aimed at him from various quarters – including from within the ANC – over his land report in which he suggested land held by traditional leaders should be given to the people to own directly.

Motlanthe told The Citizen yesterday the report did not belong to him personally, but was the property of parliament that assigned his panel to investigate.

Motlanthe was appointed by the Speakers Forum to chair a panel to probe the impact and failures of legislation with regard to the acceleration of fundamental change since 1994.

Among others, the investigation looked at areas such as the scourge of poverty, unemployment and inequality, the creation and equitable distribution of wealth, and land reform under which restitution, redistribution and security of tenure fell.

The panel, which submitted its report to parliament in November, recommended that the Ingonyama Trust Act should be repealed and the trust, which owned 60% of land in KwaZulu-Natal and oversaw communal land historically under the Zulu kingdom, should be dissolved to enable people to own land directly, instead of it being held on their behalf by the Zulu king.

The recommendation has raised the ire of Zulu amakhosi,

izinduna and their supporters, who threatened war and blood shed to fight for the status quo to remain.

Yesterday, Zulu king Goodwill Zwelithini threatened to ensure that KwaZulu-Natal seceded from the rest of South Africa, to establish an apartheid-style ethnic homeland or republic.

Some of his subjects who attended an imbizo in Nongoma, said they would die with the king fighting for the land, while others even suggested SA should be ruled by a monarch.

They also proposed that the Nguni languages should be the leading official languages in the country, similarly to Swahili being the dominant in many African countries.

In reaction to criticism by Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans’ Association national spokesperson, Carl Niehaus about his report, Motlanthe said it did not worry him because the report was not his personally, but a property of parliament. He said parliament or the Speaker’s forum must deal with that. Niehaus surprised some when he took to the podium during the imbizo and lashed out Motlanthe for what he terms and “unnecessary attack” against traditional leaders. Niehaus said the land in South Africa was “stolen by whites from blacks” and must be restored to blacks. But Motlanthe said: “I chaired the panel as requested by the Speakers’ Forum and we submitted our report in November. “Once we did that the panel ceased to exist.

“That report is now the property of parliament.”

Motlanthe said it was up to the lawmakers to accept or reject the report or its recommendations. He found it strange that parliament expected him to go around the country to explain the report instead of parliamentarians themselves.

“I know that the Ingonyama Trust board ran a campaign against me as an individual. Of course it is understandable – but what is not understandable is members of parliament wanting me to go and explain the report to different stakeholders.”

Regarding Niehaus’ criticism, Motlanthe said: “It doesn’t matter really to me what he says.

“He (Niehaus) can express himself better on this issue, not me,” Motlanthe said.

He finds it strange parliament expects him to explain the report