Land restitution, reparation the only solution
THE indigenous people of South Africa are continuing to lose the battle for the return of land to its rightful owners, from those who stole it around 1652.
The land was taken by the barrel of a gun, forcefully, and that is how black people came to be conquered.
Our traditional leadership did not fold their arms and watch as our people were raped, maimed and killed by the colonial master. They fought back and defended the tiny piece of land which we today own and refer to as communal land.
Who can believe that black people make up 75% of the population but own less than 4% of the land used for farming and agriculture? White people, the beneficiaries of colonialism and apartheid, make up less than 13% of the population yet own more than 72% of that land. Other groups, such as coloured and Indian, are above black people too.
All the socio-economic challenges faced by South Africans are symptoms of land dispossession. Land ownership affects the economic status of those who own and those who don’t. We cannot expect black people to flourish when they do not own a significant portion of land.
The land dispossession gave birth to economic exploitation, social degradation, political exclusion and psychological trauma. All the effects of conquest or defeat are with us. It qualifies us to be called a defeated nation.
The colonial hangover of a system that lasted for more than 400 years cannot be undone overnight. Capitalism, often called liberal democracy, has worsened the black African livelihoods. Black people in South Africa continue to be landless, even with the voting right which could be deemed to be a political power (authority).
It is myopic to attack black people for the social misbehaviour they portray daily, such as alcohol and drug abuse, and other misconduct. All this has to do with the dispossession of the land of the black man.
It is rather devastating for black African people to have failed to identify vibrant black leadership that will genuinely represent the interests of blacks in every aspect.
We are told that the black government was delivered in 1994, but such a government failed dismally to do the basic – return the stolen land back to its rightful owners.
The only measure to restore the identity, dignity and integrity of black African people is to do two things: one is to return the stolen land to the rightful owner and, the second, to pay reparation to all black people.
We should always remember that the white conqueror came into our country and stole the land from the black man, and that reality hasn't changed.
Why should we probe concepts such as reconciliation and repairing relationships between the dispossessor and the dispossessed when justice has not been done? It is only fair to talk about the so-called rainbow nation or unity of the country after ensuring that black South African are given what is rightfully theirs.
Black people are in search of a deserving and dedicated black leadership, not the current crop.
The PAC has failed to articulate the correct land policy. The noise made by the EFF about “land expropriation without compensation” and supported by the ANC is a complete deflection of what black people should be talking about. We should take the land back.