‘We’ll unseat ANC at polls over land reform’
TRADITIONAL leaders affiliated to the Native Tribal Indigenous Movement have threatened to unseat the ANC government if it does not speedily resolve the question of land before next year.
The party said it would dethrone the ANC through the contestation of power during the 2019 general elections.
Its president Petrus Ndaba said he was confident of victory, claiming to have 6 million followers who would cast their ballots in his favour.
Ndaba spoke to Independent Media at a gathering of the tribal chiefs from different provinces on Saturday in Soshanguve.
He accused the government of excluding tribal authorities in the engagement about land expropriation.
“Our land has been taken away through bloodshed. They (the government) have taken us from pillar to post, and we are tired of that,” he said. He claimed that numerous attempts by his organisation to plead with the government to transfer 87% of the land into the hands of the chiefs had fallen on deaf ears.
He said they were a registered political party, which was ready to contest the elections for the sake of returning the land to the hands of black people.
Ndaba expressed shock that some politicians had aligned themselves with capitalists, who forcefully grabbed the land from the blacks.
“We want our community to vote for us in 2019, because we are going to contest the elections.
“Our land that has been stolen will come back (to us). We are saying to the government of the day: let’s meet at the 2019 elections and we are confident that we will walk away with victory.
“We know this government will not win the municipalities,” he said, adding that his party wanted to gain power to protect the land that was stolen.
“We have the blessing of all the kingdoms in South Africa.
“Anyone who doesn’t believe it will be taken by surprise at the polls.”
He said the land owners would take over Parliament after the 2019 elections.
According to him, 87% of the land was still under the control of whites and it would be difficult for the government to take it back.
“The government doesn’t have a proper programme for land (reform), because the land was never taken from them. The land was taken from us, the kingdom.
“The government has to come to us before the problem of the land can be sorted out.
“But if they can talk to us, our hands are open. We love them, we will engage with them. If they won’t come to us, it is fine, we will meet at the polls,” he said.
Ndaba said they also wanted former South African Defence Force members to be integrated into the present military force.
“We marched to the government to demand the integration of former soldiers, but they never heeded our calls,” he said.
Ndaba also griped about the fact that the government seemed to be giving foreigners preference when it came to service delivery.
“There are lots of foreigners in South Africa and this is not what we want. The foreigners must go home so that we can shape South Africa,” Ndaba said.