Mantashe warns whites on land issue
ANC SECRETARY-general Gwede Mantashe has warned of disastrous economic consequences similar to Zimbabwe if white South Africans don’t stop trivialising land reform by persisting with their defence of the status quo.
Speaking at the Land Reform Imbizo in Joburg, Mantashe was responding to a question from the floor, citing the Freedom Charter and querying the government’s commitment to food production.
Mantashe reminded the audience that the Freedom Charter was “drafted within a particular political context”, because black people were confronted by the reality of being “removed from their land and dumped in the bantustans”.
Mantashe was also peeved by an earlier Agri-SA submission questioning the current model of land restitution, including the “bureaucratic and restrictive” policies on land ownership and “the funding method often hampered by corrupt practices”. The organisation also expressed unhappiness with the model of mandatory partnerships between established commercial farmers and their emerging counterparts.
“The challenge we have, we think, is from a political and social perspective (and) point of view, because not all rural dwellers are prospective farmers…” Agri-SA’s chief executive Hans van der Merwe said, adding that partnerships must be voluntary and not compulsory.
Mantashe retorted: “I was listening to Agri-SA, and they think it (land redistribution) is only about money. It’s not just about money, it’s also emotional because if you don’t have access to land, you can’t produce… If you can’t practise, you can’t be a farmer. So any other argument to defend the status quo is dangerous to all of us because emotions are going to overtake rationalism.”
In an attack on Julius Malema’s EFF, Mantashe appealed for logic and not sentiment in dealing with land restitution.
“I am sure none of you underestimate the mobilisation by the red berets. The red berets only mobilise on the basis of emotions, not on the basis of rationality…
“It can’t be a question of, as repeated by Agri-SA, that it should be voluntary, that those who own must volunteer to give it away. It’s an unworkable model because if we work on that model, we are sowing the seeds of wind.”
Both Van der Merwe and Mantashe accused each other of “moving the goalposts” in addressing land reform.
Said Mantashe: “You’re disappointed with the ANC, and your alternative is the red berets, who will run on the emotions of the people and destroy agriculture. We need to be systematic. We understand the relationship between land and food production. If we didn’t understand (it), we would be reckless.
“The ANC is not reckless. But if, when the ANC talks to you, you kick it in the teeth, anarchy is going to take over. It’s reality. It’s not a dream that is far-fetched. A few years ago, we were talking about Zimbabwe; today it’s reality. The ANC-led government has come under severe criticism for moving at a snail’s pace and lack of political will in tackling land restitution.”
Mantashe said: “Our appeal is that those who have access to land and own it now must appreciate that black South Africans don’t have access to land as a starting point. It reflects the reality of South Africa and this reality must change.”
He cautioned of counterproductive consequences if South Africa embarked on reckless land reform, but stressed that land redistribution was inevitable.
“We don’t want to impose it like our friends across the Limpopo who imposed it, and agriculture collapsed.”