The Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) has rejected the current debate and proposals on land expropriation, and says instead, that land should be “repossessed,” as the party knows “that the policy of expropriation was suggested by those owning the land because they want the current government to be moderate and soft towards them.”
Speaking to Political Analysis South Africa on Wednesday, 28 February, the party’s spokesperson, Kenneth Mokgatlhe, explained that “in ’94 we [the PAC] had a problem with section 25 of the Constitution, the sunset clause, because we believe that this land has been used for more than three hundred years and we want the reparations for that. It can’t be that these people have left holes in the country and the people of this country have not benefited, so something should be done, reparations should also be prepared, not only the land that is left.”
The party also expressed its disappointment at another opposition party, whose leader, Mosiuoa Lekota, previously questioned the ANC government’s proposed policy of land expropriation without compensation. Lekota in an impassioned speech in Parliament last week, and later in an interview with Political Analysis South Africa, challenged the ANC and land expropriation advocates to explain what they meant by “our people.”
Also read: Lekota: ANC approach to land will divide SA and can lead to bloodshed
Mokgatlhe said the PAC was “disappointed by Terror [Mosiuoa] Lekota’s stance, he believes that the land belongs to everyone, Lekota has got amnesia and memory problems, he is fighting a battle he himself does not understand.”
Asked about possible constitutional violations related to the practice of land grabs, including property rights and rule of law, as well the economic implications, Mokgatlhe retorted that “of course we [the PAC] should expect that, it also happened in Zimbabwe, we are expecting the markets to react, but that is something we prepared for.”
