ANC backtracks on land reform
No call in policy document for expropriation without compensation, despite Zuma’s call
THE ANC has proposed a watered-down approach to land reform‚ despite President Jacob Zuma’s recent call for land expropriation without compensation to be prioritised. The ANC’s policy discussion on economic transformation‚ which formed part of the discussion documents released to the public yesterday‚ does not call for the expropriation of land without compensation.
Instead, the document proposes the government should do away with paying premium prices when purchasing land for the purpose of land reform.
The party’s attitude to the land reform approach was expected to be a hotly contested topic at the ANC’s policy conference‚ set to take place in June.
Zuma’s backers have adopted radical economic transformation as their campaign theme in a bid to deliver his ex-wife Nkosazana DlaminiZuma to the highest office.
The divisions are likely to play out at the policy conference in Johannesburg as Zuma’s supporters are expected to push for land expropriation without compensation, and that it be adopted as ANC‚ therefore government‚ policy.
Zuma recently broke ranks with his party’s caucus in parliament when he suggested ANC MPs should have voted in favour of an EFF motion to amend section 25 of the Constitution to allow for expropriation without compensation.
In January, it was reported that Zuma had told an ANC policy workshop that the policy proposals were not radical enough and ordered that the documents be rewritten.
Enoch Godongwana‚ ANC head of the NEC sub-committee on economic transformation, which drafted the document‚ admitted that his party was divided on the matter.
“People have got different view points on these matters. Obviously there is going to be contestation‚” he said yesterday.
The document proposes that just and equitable compensation should replace market-based evaluations of land when the government buys land for reform purposes.
It also calls for the acceleration of land reform‚ through the passing of updated expropriation legislation in parliament.
The ANC also intends crafting legislation to dismantle the monopoly of white-owned and print media houses it regards as hostile.
It would, in the years, ahead be getting more aggressive in reducing its advertising spend in the mainstream print and instead plans to channel its advertising budget‚ worth almost R1-billion‚ to community-based media institutions.
The ANC’s sub-committee on communications chairman, Jackson Mthembu, said yesterday print-media ownership patterns needed to reflect the demographics of the country. “We are saying no‚ there must be change. Ownership patterns of the media must represent the people of South Africa as a whole‚” Mthembu said. He is also the ANC’s chief whip in parliament.
“It can’t be only limited to a few people who are white-skinned and male‚ that’s the point we’re making.”
The print media industry is dominated by media houses such as Times Media Group‚ Independent Media‚ Naspers and Caxton.
The ANC discussion document on communications and the battle of ideas proposes that dismantling monopoly must be through legislative interventions in areas like ownership and that there must be a probe into anti-competitive behaviour and market structure.
The document said: “The ANC must focus on breaking up such monopolies and on ensuring participation of black South Africans in all sectors of the media and across the media value chain.”