Land expropriation ‘will help fight gangsterism’

THE expropriation of land without compensation to coloured people living in the northern areas will help end gangsterism in Helenvale.

That is the view of the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) branch secretary in the Eastern Cape legislature, Branton Jonas, who was addressing a group of ANC supporters at the Helenvale Resource Centre on Friday.

Jonas said the government must also allocate land to build churches, mosques and sacred spaces so religious groups could practice their cultural beliefs. This would restore the moral fibre of people living in the gang-ridden area.

About 60 people attended the debate entitled “Debunking the question of land expropriation without compensation”, as part of Freedom Day celebrations.

Jonas said foreigners owned about 2% of the country’s land and South Africans owned 92%.

“In terms of race you have whites 72%, so-called coloured 15%, Indians 5% and Africans 4%. There is also ownership by industry,” Jonas said.

“But are we able to ask the question of land ownership without talking about nationalisation?”

Jonas linked social ills in the northern areas to forced removals that happened under the Group Areas Act.

He said Helenvale residents needed to ask themselves why land expropriation was critical to them.

“The apartheid regime used land to frustrate our people.

“The people of Helenvale ended up here not because of their own doing but because they were pushed further away from the industrial areas.

“Helenvale emerged because we were dumped here.

“Forceful removals was not just about removal of people from prime land eyed by the white minority to perpetuate the divide and rule principle, it was also to entrench cultural, ancestral and identity loss for generations to come,” Jonas said.

While some of those who attended the debate were excited at the prospect of getting back land taken away from their forefathers, others questioned exactly how this would be done.

ANC Nelson Mandela Bay deputy secretary Desiré Samuel said gangsterism in the area was a direct result of the apartheid regime.

“When forced removals took place and people were moved here it was about survival.

“There were limited resources and people ended up ganging up against each other,” Samuel said.

“We didn’t just lose our land, we also lost our identity.”

The panel included the South African National Civic Organisation’s Eugene Johnson and Khoisan chief Crawford Fraser.