THE UNDENIABLE SOUTH AFRICAN LAND REFORM: INTERROGATING THE 2018-2020 ANC POSITION ON LAND EXPROPRIATION WITHOUT COMPENSATION

Abstract

It is an undeniable truth that blacks in South Africa were taken off their land in the diabolical 1913 Land Act which dispossessed the black population of their +80% of their arable land. In the preceding years, this piece of segregation sharpened the serfdom or sharecropping conditions until in 1991 when it got replaced. In 1994, the liberation movement, African National Congress (ANC) won the first general elections and announced a new democratic government. Whilst the history of land is a harsh reality for black rightful owners, debates over land reform have gained too much attention in the last 3-4 decades, to a point that the South African parliament in 2018 had to pass a bill to amend section 25 of the Constitution in order to allow a smooth constitutional transfer of land to the rightful owners. Until to date, under Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration, the land question is still a looming issue. In light of the above, this article seeks to explore the position of the ANC and that of Ramaphosa (incumbent) in order to make sense of their governmental standing, particularly as it relates to the land question. Historical developments of the land question are prioritized to advance the argument that land should be expropriated so that it can also benefit the majority citizens who live and work it. Afrocentricity in this article is adopted to attend to the central argument and objective.