Motlanthe against Cyril’s land reform plans

Former state president Kgalema Motlanthe has openly come out in opposition to his party’s position on land expropriation without compensation and changing the constitution.

Speaking at a land indaba hosted by City Press and Rapport yesterday, Motlanthe said the key focus of land reform should be to expand property ownership to more people by giving them title deeds.

Motlanthe’s comments evidently go against an announcement by the ANC at the end of July when President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the ruling party would be supporting an amendment to the constitution to make land expropriation without compensation “more explicit”.

Ramaphosa said it had become “patently clear” that “the people” wanted expropriation without compensation to become “more explicit” in the constitution.

He said the party would continue to follow parliamentary processes to change the law with the ultimate aim of increasing agricultural production, people’s access to land, and just and equitable redistribution, in a manner that would boost the economy.

A recent survey, however, suggested that nearly a third of South Africans may never have even heard of land expropriation without compensation, while most reject the idea of nationalisation of land once they understand it.

Motlanthe headed up a parliamentary panel aimed at assessing existing land legislation in SA.

Yesterday, Motlanthe emphasised the constitution doesn’t need to be changed to make expropriation without compensation possible. He laid the blame for failures in land reform on poor implementation.

He said people had become disheartened about the challenge of land reform because they weren’t breaking it into manageable tasks.

The former interim president, who also served as deputy president under Jacob Zuma, recommended that state land, both rural and urban, be the first target for redistribution to make more people landowners, before even looking at redistributing private land.

Other panellists, including Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, also said changing the constitution would be meaningless if the capacity of the state to effect meaningful implementation were not improved.