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The National African Farmers’ Union (Nafu) has proposed that the constitution be amended to provide for the land to be nationalised.
Speaking at the Black Management Forum conference held at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand on Thursday, Nafu President Motsepe Matlala said the organisation wanted the Constitution to make way for the nationalisation of land.
“Amend the constitution to explicitly provide for land nationalisation. It is not a very popular option, I want the professionals to look at this model very carefully and not compare it with the 19th century failures,” he said.
Matlala said the country cannot be kept busy with “addressing cosmetics,” and the amendment can be achieved by changing the definition of property to exclude land.
“We are not fighting anybody. We are not chasing anybody away, we are saying let’s nationalise and start all over again,” he said, adding that the matter should be legislated properly.
He said the issue can also be fully ironed out through an agricultural Codesa wherein the private sector will also have to agree to contribute and not just government paying.
Matlala also said expropriation of land without compensation, as currently being discussed, is not a viable option and will never work.
“Expropriation of land without compensation is not practical, is not feasible, it can never be implemented and it is not going to work,” he added.
In her earlier address, land reform minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said there were more than 450 000 written submissions to Parliament about the land issue but she doubted that most of those submissions were penned by people who actually attended the public hearing on the same issue.
“I think there’s still a lot of work to do but while we wait for Parliament to complete its work, we have an inter-ministerial committee led by the deputy president which will deal with the matter.”
" target="_blank">Lesetja Malope Business writer City Press p: 0117139001 w: www.citypress.co.za e: Lesetja.Malope@citypress.co.za 
Lesetja Malope Business writer City Press p: 0117139001 w: www.citypress.co.za e: Lesetja.Malope@citypress.co.za
