Govan Mbeki, the author of "The Peasant's Revolt", was a leading theoretician in the South African struggle as a member of the African National Congress and the South African Communist Party., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
SACP statement on the centenary of the 1913 Land Act
19 June 2013
Today marks the centenary celebrations of the notorious 1913 Land Act, which further served as a basis to introduce apartheid subjugation and exploitation of the black majority. We commemorate this day in order to make a mark in history that never again shall we allow such a social system and atrocities to ever occur.
Thousands of our people where subjected to brutal land dispossession and moved to homelands where they were restricted to unproductive land and subsequently forced into a migrant labour system. Those who sought to be bold to resist forced removals from the land of their own were brutally assassinated. Their sacrifices have always inspired our people to wage relentless fights against the colonial dispossessors. The new fight remains ending capitalist class inequality on land ownership and usage and move towards more public usage of the land to meet the requirements of food security and sustainable land use.
Today our people stand victorious and yet they are still without their land. This has had a negative impact on the capacity of our people to be able to lead a sustainable livelihood using land as a basic form of sustenance. Investment in agriculture, agricultural research and innovation has declined drastically. Agricultural produce is mainly targeted at export markets resulting in our country being a net food importer. The rural economy is still lacking behind in so far as transformation is concerned. All these are consequences of two main things, mainly land dispossession and liberalization post 1994.
The SACP calls on government to urgently take up measures to address the above mentioned. It is not only enough that we recognise that we will miss the target of land restitution by 2014, we need to do more to rescue land restitution from a neo-liberal paradigm of the failed policy of willing buyer willing seller. The people cannot wait patiently whilst we flirt with this or that policy option. We need speedy action to resolve the challenges posed by land hunger and thirst that are indeed real and must be addressed, urgently. SACP say Mawubuye umhlaba!
Issued by the SACP
Contact:
Malesela Maleka
SACP Spokesperson - 082 226 1802
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