The Democratic Alliance (DA) says it welcomes the ANC’s announcement on land retribution. President Jacob Zuma devoted much of his January 8th speech to issues pertaining to land and pledged that his party is to work towards improving the socio-economic conditions for the previously disadvantaged.
This year marks the 100-years since the 1913 Land Act which dispossessed the African majority. The ANC says it set itself a target of 30% transfer of land by 2014, which is unlikely to be achieved. Zuma also announced that the government will replace the “willing buyer; willing seller” principle with a “just and equitable” principle of land expropriation.
The DA has welcomed the move. “Our primary issue is that when it comes to the issue of land; we completely as South Africans agree that there must be a process that deals with the issue of land.
“I think one of the things the President missed out on was the fact that an audit needs to be undertaken; that clarifies how much land belongs to who and how we can redistribute it; before we take another process on the go but we agree with the principle of the fact that black South Africans who suffered need to have their land back,” says the DA spokesperson, Mmusi Maimane.
Meanwhile, the crowd that gathered to listen to Zuma speech says that job creation, the economy and HIV/Aids are some of the issues in President Jacob Zuma’s January 8th statement that struck a chord with them.
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