Ramaphosa not mesmerising everyone with regard to expropriation without compensation

23 August 2018

President Cyril Ramaphosa will not succeed in fooling everyone with regard to what exactly expropriation without compensation entails and what the ANC aims to do with it.

This is the message that Dr Pieter Groenewald, leader of the FF Plus, conveyed to President Ramaphosa today during question time in Parliament. Here follows Dr Groenewald's message to the President:

I want to tell President Ramaphosa that I do not agree with his view on expropriation without compensation. Expropriation without compensation will not speed up the land reform process as he would like to make us believe.

The President says that investors will have certainty regarding their property. But it is not only the investors who want certainty. The people who are calling the loudest for certainty are the landowners in South Africa. They want to know what is going to happen to their land.

Everyone knows the President is good at negotiating. Just like he mesmerised Roelf Meyer with his negotiation skills, I am sure he also did the same thing with certain agricultural leaders.

However, I have a message for the President from other farmers. The message is that they will not voluntarily give up their land. The President would do well to take that into account with the process of expropriation without compensation.

Issued by Pieter Groenewald, FF Plus Leader, 23 August 2018