Expropriate land WITHOUT compensation

Expropriate land without compensation!!

I find it really embarrassing when we as South Africans, 21 years into our relatively young democracy, debate about the whole land issue. First and foremost, we all know how land was forcibly stolen from millions of black South Africans by white colonialists and how the Native Land Act of 1913 made it a priority to see the black majority of this country landless and segregated, while the majority of the land laid in the hands of the white minority.

So therefore it breaks my heart, as a young black South African, who has familiarized himself with the struggle for land which was stolen from our forefathers, whenever I see my black government buying stolen land from land thief's. It also breaks my heart whenever we as black students stand up and start talking about land and later get told by some that, we are a "threat to democracy" as if white colonialists were democratic when it came to the land debacle.

When it comes to the issue of land, black South Africans from all corners our Neo-liberal and Neo-patrimonial country must unite and show solidarity in the fight for our our own land. I really do not see why black South Africans in the DA ( Democratic Alliance ) for example, should not align themselves in the struggle for land, after all, it's the black people who remain landless, not the DA. Among other issues, the fight for land should be fought by all black South Africans as well as white South Africans who've realized that the current one sided ownership of land is dearly costing our much talked about "rainbow nation", thats if it really exists.

The struggle for land should be a unifying factor among all black South Africans irrespective of their political affiliation, and should move beyond mere party politics, as this is a black struggle.

The expropriation of land WITHOUT compensation is therefore the only way forward for South Africans, as the willing buyer willing seller policy has certainly not helped. Buying back stolen land will therefore be a spat in the face to people such Robert Sobukwe and Solomon Plaatjie who robustly opposed the racist Natives Land Act and to our forefathers who lost their lives during the struggle.

By buying back our own land we are essentially supporting crime and painting a negative picture that crime pays, and that its ok for someone to steal your candy and that you can always buy your candy back later on, at a highly inflated price. It therefore cannot be politically, socially and economically viable, for the majority of land to be owned by just a very few minorities, while the majority of the people fight for mere crumbs and remain landless.

Why should we compensate? Compensate for STOLEN land?  NO!