DA warns Nkwinti on land seizure
2011-07-11 12:58
Cape Town - Remarks by Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti suggesting land expropriation without compensation was a possibility, were an ill-considered attempt to appease the ANC Youth League, the Democratic Alliance in Limpopo said on Monday.
"The minister, a senior government official, clearly wants to appease the ill-thought stance of the ANC Youth League," said DA Limpopo leader, Desiree van der Walt in a statement.
"Firstly, such rhetoric from politicians only serves to downgrade South Africa as an investment destination. No investor goes to a country where their investment can just be grabbed at a whim," she said.
"Secondly, expropriation without compensation will require tampering with the Constitution."
City Press reported on Sunday that Nkwinti, after a land hand-over ceremony in Limpopo, said it was important to be “realistic” about the call of the youth league for the forced take-over of land to speed up redistribution.
“I spoke to [ANCYL president] Julius [Malema] on the Monday of the week after the conference.
“Julius says we as the youth league put the matter the way we think we should put it, and says the minister will have to find a way of putting it in government language. That’s my job and he was correct.
“Remember these are young people who are also concerned about their future. They are actually saying to us: think about it, it’s going to be us tomorrow, what are you going to leave for us.
“I think it’s very important that it happens now because you have people in the ANC government and the ANC itself who still have credibility among the people,” he said.
Only 7.4 million hectares of the 25 million hectares of farm land the department aimed to distribute by 2014 had been transferred to previously disadvantaged South Africans.
- SAPA
