President Cyril Ramaphosa bemoaned the loss of land due to the 1913 Natives Land Act. Picture: GCIS
President Cyril Ramaphosa reiterated that the state will not forcibly remove anyone from their land in South Africa.
Ramaphosa was replying to the State of the Nation Address (Sona) debate at the parliamentary precinct in Cape Town on Thursday.
He said South Africa has seen a dark and painful past of land grabs by the state and would not put its people through the same trauma again.
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This was a message to the international community which has been misled about land grabs in the country.
“The people of this country know the pain of forced removals; that is why we will never allow forced removals again in this country.
“And that is why we have a constitution prohibiting the arbitrary deprivation of property. That is why we have a constitution that requires just and equitable compensation to be paid in the event of expropriation for a public purpose in a public interest where applicable,” he said.
He said the 1913 Natives Land Act had deprived millions of black South Africans of land. More than 100 years after this Act, the government has been trying to ensure equitable land distribution.
“The apartheid government forcibly removed more than 3.5 million people in District Six, Sophiatown, Marabastad, Cato Manor, Kroonstad, Nelspruit, and many other places across the country.
“It was one of the largest removals of a people in modern history. There are some in this house today that have memories of their families being forcibly removed from their land,” he said.
Ramaphosa explained that the Expropriation Act is not a malicious piece of law but is meant to balance the scales and create access to land for public benefit.
“Our experience of forced removals also explains the constitutional requirement that the state must take reasonable measures within its available resources to foster conditions which will enable citizens to gain access to land to do so on an equitable basis,” he said.
Ramaphosa said South Africans should unite amid attacks from global superpowers like the United States (US).
“We have toiled long and hard to build a nation united in its diversity. We are firmly committed to a society that is nonracial and nonsexist. We want to live together in peace, harmony, and equality.
“We must not allow others to define us, but more importantly to divide us. At a time like this, we need to stand united as a nation, particularly now as we are facing a harsh global wind,” he said.
Ramaphosa said South Africans can work together to find solutions for South African problems. This was a veiled attack against those that have been asking the US to assist them.
“This not the time to rush to foreign lands about issues that we can solve in this country. We need South African solutions for South African problems,” he said.
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