Mantashe’s statement about 12 000 hectare ceiling for farms shows how dangerously ignorant ANC is regarding land
15 August 2018
Chairperson of the ANC, Gwede Mantashe's, statement yesterday that white farmers' farms must be limited to 12 000 hectares and that the rest of the land must be expropriated and given to black people serves as proof that the ANC is dangerously ignorant and unrealistic when it comes to land.
The reality is that a farmer in the Karoo will struggle to make a living on 12 000 hectares of land, while 100 hectares of arable land in a fertile region will probably yield the same production.
Mantashe's statement is thoughtless and only goes to show that the ANC itself does not even know how to implement expropriation without compensation. The ANC is grabbing at straws in an attempt to promote its populist ideology by creating unrealistic expectations with its supporters.
Dr Pieter Groenewald, leader of the FF Plus, is challenging the ANC to put its entire plan with regard to land expropriation without compensation on the table without any further delay so that everyone can see for themselves that it is unrealistic, that it will only destroy the economy and that it will surely jeopardise food security.
It is imperative that the ANC will make this policy of theirs public so that land owners, in particular, can get more clarity on what to expect.
The statements regularly made by senior ANC members that imply that Section 25 of the Constitution already makes provision for expropriation without compensation, but that the ANC leaders just want to spell it out with their dangerous announcements are misleading seeing as the Section does make provision for expropriation, but below market value and certainly not without compensation.
These wild statements by the ANC are just causing more confusion, which leads to uncertainty and unnecessary tension.
It is in the interest of all South Africans for the ANC to disclose their entire plan in this regard as soon as possible and the FF Plus will put pressure on the government, also by means of various parliamentary processes, to do so.
Issued by Pieter Groenewald, FF Plus leader, 15 August 2018
