Land Issue

On my way to work this morning, me and my friend we had very good conversation about land issue while we were in traffic. It was very informative and very personal as well. I saw in her eyes quite frequently that this is the issue that is close to her heart.

I can’t trace the origin of the topic but I got interested when she mentioned “land”. What got me more fascinated about the topic was when she said we need to grab the land from the “Van Tonder”, (typical way which most Africans use to refer Afrikaners people).

Which land you want to grab, I asked her. This land, pointing to the farm next to the main road, she replied. Who this farm belongs to, I asked. Van Tonder, she replied. We will vote EFF, so that we can grab the land, she added.

Land issue has been going on for a while and before I can dwell much in this topic, one thing for sure is that land is the ultimate wealth that each every one of  us wants to possess. It is a sad reality when we have to come to terms that blacks were forceful removed from their land by whites. That is the sad reality and we need to live with it.

Even after decades since the death of apartheid, we still live with the aftermath of such cruel enemy till today. The fact of the matter is that we can’t change what  happened. We can only learn from it and move on with our lives.

While we as the country, trying to build rainbow nation, the burning issue still is given less attention that it deserves. Whose land is this? That is the question that we need all as the country to answer.

Even though land grab was practiced before, in this age it is just impossible to grab the land with force, above all, we have constitution that we all need to live by.

Many and many of black South African are still without land even to this day, some are forced to share a very small piece of land with their fellow brothers and sisters. The perfect example is dwelling arrangements at Alexandra.

Back to my conversation with my friend. We need to start to buy land, I said. Why do we need to buy land, government must give us land, she said. From that statement, I felt deeply in my heart that something is not right. We can’t be all black citizen of this country expect government to give each one of us land, either for residential or for agricultural/business purposes.

I am not trying to say that the land claim is not relevant. I am in full support of land redistribution. Where people are forceful removed from their land, they should be given back their land.

Some people still have the mentality of waiting for government to give them land. They waited for ANC government to rule so that they may have land; now ANC led government is in power and still they are waiting for land. I can’t just afford to wait anymore. The waiting game has robbed us our valuable time.

The mindset of the generation of today should be that we need to buy land. This land belongs to all of us, both white and black. We can’t use the excuse of apartheid to not to buy land. While government is busy with land claims issues, lets us empower our selves by securing our own piece of land.

It’s hard to believe that in my family-records, I couldn’t find reasons to institute the land claim. I then told myself that I need  to start to secure what I can call mine and what my children will be proud of in generations to come.

The problem is not that we don’t have money; the biggest problem is that we are waiting for someone to give us land. The mentality of being aid recipient hasn’t vanished in the minds of many. We are in free country; we can only free ourselves by possessing what we have worked for.