Nothing in South African politics is as emotionally loaded as land restitution. It is so emotive an issue – emblematic of centuries of discrimination, exploitation and humiliation — that there exists an array of radical populists who clearly have a vested interest in the matter never being resolved. At least, not peacefully. After all, “drive […]
Land restitution
Posted inNews/Politics
Election ecstasy: Old foes kiss and make up
Mangosuthu Buthelezi and Julius Malema. Helen Zille and Jacob Zuma. When traditional foes start making nice towards one another or echoing one another’s opinions, it’s clearly the end of the world as we know it. Or else, it’s a general election year and they’re scrambling to ingratiate themselves with voters. Inkatha Freedom Party leader Buthelezi […]
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What should we make of the state of land reform?
By Rudolph Jansen Land reform received a fair amount of attention in President Jacob Zuma’s 2013 State of the Nation Address. Sceptics will say “we’ve heard it all before, now show us that something will happen” and the pessimists will say “there is no virtue in admitting failure and government still doesn’t understand the fundamental […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Lies, damned lies and flawed statistics
Dependable statistics are critical to modern government. Without them delusion, wishful thinking and policy chaos reign. As is happening in the land affairs ministry. Recent data reveal a serious flaw in the way the government is tackling land ownership redress. It shows that the restitution process distorts critically the measure that the African National Congress […]