SA won’t be like Zimbabwe – Shivambu

EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu has allayed fears that the expropriation of land without compensation would result with people being dispossessed of their homes.

Also among some of those concerns is that the country’s economy could go on a downward spiral similar to what happened in Zimbabwe following the farm invasions in that country in the early 2000s.

“The residential component is just a matter of simple conversion. We are not going to dispossess people’s houses,” Shivambu said.

“We cannot say South Africa will be like Zimbabwe because the processes are different. In Zimbabwe, the proposal was farm invasion, whereas we are proposing for a constitutional[ly] legislated process, and this is why we engage all sectors of the economy.

“We cannot copy other countries because they did not have the same conditions that we experienced in South Africa. We are coming up with solutions for South Africa informed by our historical conditions of colonialism and apartheid,” Shivambu said.

In a series of tweets by the EFF’s verified Twitter account, Shivambu explained the expropriation of land would not disrupt industries or agriculture and that once expropriated, the land would belong to the state so it could be equally distributed.

Two hundred and forty one (241) parliamentarians voted in favour of an EFF motion on the expropriation of land without compensation, which the party tabled in February.

Parliament then established a public review committee to conduct public hearings and receive submissions on the review of Section 25 of the constitution and other sections where necessary for the state to expropriate land in the public interest without compensation.

Shivambu said the ultimate outcome of the constitutional review process would lead to the drafting of separate legislation that would deal with specifications of land distributions.

“We should utilise the constitution and legislation to redistribute the land. Then the redistribution after custodianship will reflect South Africa’s demographics,” the EFF deputy president said.

Shivambu said the EFF’s proposed framework was that the state should be the custodian of the land and that whoever wanted to use the land should apply for a lease.

“How is it possible? A good example is with the minerals and petroleum. It was once private[ly] owned, but is now in the hands of the state. The notion that if the state owns land then there will be no foreign investments is false,” he said.

Shivambu said the Ingonyama Trust, which administers land traditionally owned by the Zulu people of KwaZulu-Natal, with their king as the sole trustee, should not be exempt from the expropriation of land without compensation and land redistribution.

“No one should claim unreasonable portions of land. Land will be distributed equally for use. Like Ngonyama Trust saying the whole of KZN belongs to the king. It cannot be that one individual owns the land. It must be subjected to the democratic process of redistribution,” he said.

Shivambu said what further necessitated the expropriation of land without compensation was the department of human settlements being forced to spend unreasonable amounts of money procuring land for government housing projects.

“The EFF manifesto is clear on the land policy; the condition is that you use the land or lose it,” he said.