Lekota challenges anyone to prove him wrong on ‘land theft’

Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of public hearings in North West about land expropriation without compensation, Congress of the People (Cope) leader Mosiuoa Lekota said there are numerous lies being bandied about on land in South Africa.

One of those was that the apartheid government had given land away to white people as “freebies”. He clarified that he has never been against land expropriation, particularly in rectifying the ownership of land that was taken by government through the 1913 Natives Land Act.

However, he said compensation would often have to be a requirement.

He said the constitution that was decided on at the Codesa talks made it clear that the country should not be considered in tribal, ethnic, racial or other discriminatory terms and that “South Africa belongs to all who live in it”.

He said it was a “complete lie, and I want to say it here, that the white government took the land and gave it as freebies to white families. It’s all recorded at the Deeds Office. I challenge anyone here … all the lands that were taken to the people [sic] are registered at the Deeds Office.”

He appeared to be saying that the blanket idea that all land in South Africa can be described as “stolen” from black people by white people has no legal basis – however, it is possible to look at records to determine which lands were in fact illegally taken by government through the discredited Natives Land Act.

That land, according to Lekota, should indeed be restored to its rightful owners.

Take a look at his challenge below: