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Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema
The Economic Freedom Fighters will expropriate land without
compensation in municipalities that it wins in the local government elections,
party leader Julius Malema said today.
It would give people free stands to live on, he wrote in the
party’s newsletter.
Landlessness was the major reason the black majority lived in absolute poverty and the EFF would use the “municipal planning function” to abolish this, Malema said.
“That the descendants of colonial murderers, barterers, and robbers continue to occupy, use and benefit from illegally and illegitimately acquired land is not in dispute among sensible and rational South Africans. What is in dispute is the manner in which this illegally and illegitimately acquired land should be transferred to the ownership and for the benefit of the people as a whole,” he said.
Malema said the Economic Freedom Fighters was the only significant
political movement with a commitment to take back the land without compensation
and give it to the people equitably.
Other “reactionary reformists” were saying the limited resources at
the state’s disposal must be used to buy “stolen land”, he said.
“The EFF is not ashamed of, and will never retreat from, this
commitment because buying illegally acquired property is a criminal offence and
we will never be party to criminal activities,” he said.
“What this means is that when we are government in any
municipality, we will allocate all available land to the people for residential,
industrial, religious and recreational purposes, and no one will stop the EFF
from doing so.”
“Use it or lose it” – Malema quoted Section 151 (4) of the
Constitution: “The national or provincial government may not compromise or
impede a municipality’s ability or right to exercise its powers or perform its
functions.”
He said municipalities were responsible for municipal planning,
industrial promotions, local sport facilities, cemeteries, and other services
that required land.
“It is, therefore, logical that when the Constitution assigned
these tasks, it also gave the municipality a degree of powers to allocate land
for all these purposes.”
Malema said the party would pass by-laws allowing for the
expropriation and allocation of land, based on the principle of “use it or lose
it”, and provide bulk services.
The municipalities would provide land for burial purposes, to avoid
re-using old graves.
The EFF would support programmes to train people to become farmers,
with the aim of increasing agricultural productivity, and provide free land for
building places of worship. – News24
