FRANK TALK Dialogue: ‘The Importance of Addressing the Land Issue Urgently’

Join the District Six Museum and the Steve Biko Foundation in this round-table discussion on Thursday 9 May from 6.00 – 8.30pm- one day after the country’s sixth national democratic elections. The venue for this discussion will be the District Six Museum’s Homecoming Centre, 15A Buitenkant Street, Cape Town.

Twenty five years into democracy, the land question remains a burning issue in the South African political landscape.

Following a motion raised by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) last year in Parliament for Section 25 of the Constitution to be amended to allow the expropriation of land without compensation for equal redistribution, President Cyril Ramaphosa committed to land expropriation without compensation, provided it doesn’t undermine the economy and impact on food production and security.

Since the end of Apartheid in 1994, the ANC has followed a “willing-seller, willing-buyer” model whereby the government buys white-owned farms for redistribution to Black people. However, this approach has failed and delayed the process of equally redistributing land in South Africa. The majority of South Africans continue to express their disquiet about the slowness and the resulting triple challenge of poverty, unemployment and inequality. The government has since scrapped this policy and introduced the land expropriation bill to fast-track the process of land redistribution.

The land question remains largely a contentious issue in South African politics. While some argue for a fast-tracking of the process of redistributing land, others argue that the acceleration of land redistribution needs to balance the urgency of social redress with sustainable land usage and food security. However, there is no argument that a way has to be found to redistribute and to restitute the land to those who were forcibly dispossessed of it.

The proposed FrankTalk dialogue will closely examine why it is imperative for the nation to address the land issue with urgency.