Recently, I made presentations on behalf of AfriForum at two public hearings on the proposed amendment of section 25 of the Constitution: in Westonaria in Gauteng and in Jansenville in rural Eastern Cape.
Although much the same kind of arguments were heard at both venues, there were considerable differences in style, content and tone. In Westonaria, EFF members were in the majority and extremely rowdy. They had the initiative and made things difficult for anyone (including myself) opposing the amendment. Almost every speaker chanted Afro-nationalist slogans (such as “Africa for the Africans!”). And they made it quite clear that Africa belongs to black people alone and that white people (and indeed every other ethnic minority) should have no rights in South Africa or elsewhere on the continent. It was brash, insane, intolerant and boisterous political theatre.
In Jansenville it was quite different. EFF members were almost nowhere to be seen, proceedings ran smoothly and I gave my presentation in Afrikaans (in Westonaria the EFF jeered the solitary Afrikaans contribution and the process of speaking was at times chaotic).
Nevertheless, in my contribution I emphasised that if land on its own did equal wealth (as one speaker after the other in Westonaria tried to make us believe), then Africa with its vast land mass and abundance of fertile soil would have been one of the richest continents on the planet. But it’s not. In fact, it is by far the poorest continent, and I argued that this was the result of bad decisions and harmful policies (such as expropriation without compensation).
At Jansenville I was applauded when I said this; in Westonaria it was contemptuously – but also with a measure of implicit recognition – scoffed at by the EFF. Unfortunately for them, this is a fact they cannot deny.
The ANC’s decision to support the amendment enabling expropriation without compensation have confounded many organisations and analysts. But it need not be the case. It is simply a reflection of the draconic behaviour that obtains today in the Southern African region and elsewhere in Africa.