Join hands on land talks – judge

PEACEFUL negotiation was the only solution to the country’s controversial land ownership issue, Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng said yesterday.

“Let’s join hands and confront this problem and negotiate. The solution is going to be painful but it can be resolved so that no one feels obliged to run out of the country,” he said.

The Chief Justice, who was delivering the annual Chief Albert Luthuli Memorial Lecture at the University of Kwazulunatal’s Westville campus, pointed out that some white farmers owned vast tracks of land that they could sell back to the State at reduced prices.

He reminded the packed audience that black people had not had the advantage of economic benefits so could not afford to buy farms, and that once upon a time, they could not buy land even if they had money. They could tell white landowners that they had benefited from an unjust system – but that now they could negotiate to find a mutually satisfactory solution.

He warned against generalising about white people, saying there were many good white people in the country who were prepared to work for the collective good of South Africa.

While there were some people who travelled abroad to talk about the South African land issue, he wondered what the landless were doing.

“Where is their voice?” he asked to applause.

Asked about the issue of land expropriation without compensation, he said “that will come to court”.

The land issue affected the whole continent and he called on African leaders to play a role in the issue.

“We have committed ourselves to the well-being of the continent. It is therefore befitting that we pour our energies and collective wisdom into endeavours that would result in sensible, humane and just land ownership patterns, sustainable and beneficial land use by all. We must share prosperity and enduring peace.”

On the question of corruption, he said he felt that potential politicians should be “tested” at public forums where they could be quizzed about their backgrounds and asked what they had achieved.

“That would help to reduce corrupt elements,” he said.

He further threw his weight behind previous calls by Luthuli’s family for an investigation into the mysterious death of the Chief, who was Africa’s first Nobel Peace Laureate.

Luthuli was killed in 1967 after being struck by a freight train while walking on a trestle bridge.

“I think every family deserves to know what became of their loved ones,” the Chief Justice said.

“If there was injustice, it is only fitting to go into the root cause of his death, and if anyone dead or alive was responsible, that person should be dealt with or a pronouncement should be made.”

Luthuli’s daughter, Dr Albertina Luthuli, said later that she appreciated that such a man of the Chief Justice’s standing had called for an investigation.

“My father was a good man and he did not deserve to die the way he did. An investigation will bring some closure for the family,” she said.