Souh Afrikan Land Issue

For those who are not familiar with the land issue in South Africa here is a brief overview.....100 years ago today, the then administration of the Union of South Africa passed the now infamous Natives Land Act of 1913, which legislated the dispossession of land from the African people. Effectively, the African majority, then exceeding 87% of the people living in South Africa lost their ability to live on, rent, till, or work on 87% of the land without any form of compensation. Africans were since then not allowed to own land, and even make plans for any piece of ground except in areas demarcated as reserves which were largely barren, arid and without mineral wealth beneath it. This law changed the lives of African people then, forcing them into slave-like labour, and cramming them into unproductive and desolate rural areas and urban ghettoes. This way of life, remains the same for many African, and South African people even today, a century later. The ANCYL condemns the slow pace of the restitution programme since 1994. Whilst we are proud that through the Youth League`s efforts, the ANC`s resolutions at the 53rd National Conference in Mangaung last year, called for the replacement of the willing-buyer-willing-seller principle with just and equitable principle of land reform, the ANCYL further recognizes the importance of the land expropriation in attaining economic freedom. Accordingly, through our efforts the ANC resolutions further call for expropriation without compensation on land acquired through unlawful means or used for illegal purposes having due regard to Section 25 of the Constitution. The ANCYL now calls on government to expedite the promulgation of the new Expropriation Act. The ANCYL further calls for the reopening of the lodgement date and the reconsideration of the cut-off date of 1913 thereof, such as to accommodate the Khoi and San descendants. These calls of the ANCYL are not conjured up to be radical, but are enshrined in the guiding document of our people`s Freedom – Freedom Charter which says `The Land Shall be Shared Among Those Who Work It!, The struggle for economic freedom is a generational call. It is not the brain-child or the property of any single individuals, no matter how vocal or voluable they may be.