Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Newly formed Land Party draws lessons from China
A NEW party established by land and community activists has been revealed to the public and will contest this year’s general elections with promises to run South Africa like China.
The Land Party’s chief leader Gcobani Ndzongana, yesterday said its plans for the country include ensuring that 90% of the workforce are local South Africans and that the country’s political elites close to the ANC do not benefit alone.
Ndzongana, a former member of the EFF in the Western Cape, said the Land Party wanted to capture state power. “We see ourselves as the ruling party, not an opposition party,” he said.
According to Ndzongana, the party draws more lessons from China.
“As long as the ANC is in power, South Africa will not change and the status quo will remain,” he explained.
Ndzongana believes a corrupt faction dominates in the ANC and has described the party’s leader President Cyril Ramaphosa as “useless”.
“Stop voting the ANC into power,” he said. Ndzongana suggested that the Land Party will amend the Constitution to allow for referendums.
“Take the land issue to a referendum. People must decide on the issue,” he said. Ndzongana highlighted that the process currently under way to amend section 25 of the Constitution must be scrapped.
“The issue of land needs to be addressed. If the land issue is not tackled there will be civil war. The ANC does not have a solution. Kick the ANC out of power and elect the Land Party,” he said.
Ndzongana said several ANC leaders currently have farms but use them for holidays. “We seek to advance the culture of socialism in South Africa through democratic centralism, South African patriotism and unity, upholding the rights of the people and educating them on their rights, and, most importantly, through love for all people,” he said at a press briefing in Braamfontein, Johannesburg.
Ndzongana described the Land Party as a community-driven organisation formed by young and old political activists and community activists.
“It is the first communist party with a distinct South African context, characteristics, tradition and culture to contest South Africa’s national general elections,” he claimed.
Ndzongana said the Land Party represented the modern evolution of communism that envisages South Africa as a global economic powerhouse with less unemployment, illiteracy, crime, and corruption.
A Land Party government will have a five-sphere integrated plan to promote co-ordinated advancements through the economy, a political, cultural, social and ecological programme.
Ndzongana said that the more than 600 registered parties were “scams” and that only the Land Party will advance the interests of South Africans.