🇿🇦 MP WARNS OF ‘CIVIL WAR’ OVER LAND

2024 marks three decades since apartheid officially ended in South Africa. The transition had given many Black people hope that they could finally fully participate in the nation's economic affairs.
However, this has not been the case, Black South Africans continue to largely remain on the periphery of the economy. Nowhere is this case more pronounced that in the country's land ownership imbalances.
Upon taking power in 1994, the African National Congress (ANC) had vowed to redress South Africa's racially biased land-ownership structures. It promised to transfer at least 30 per cent of the country's land back to Black people within the first five years of being in power. However, three decades later, White settlers still own more than 78 per cent of the land despite making up less than 10 per cent of the population.

With the country poised to head to the polls at the end of May, the land issue is featuring prominently in the national debate - and, from the look of things, the ANC faces an uphill task explaining to the voters why, despite being in government with a parliamentary majority, it’s failed to correct the land-ownership imbalances.

Some have accused the party of being timid in its approach to land reform, which critics say has emboldened White settlers to resist any state attempts to redistribute the land that was forcibly taken from Black South Africans during colonial and apartheid days. Many settlers have made it clear that they will not cooperate with the state when it comes to land reform.

In this clip from 2017, Pieter Groenewald - an MP and leader of the right-wing Freedom Front Plus party - warns of “civil war” if the government attempts to get land from White settlers.

What are your thoughts? Do you think the issue could result in a violent confrontation? Does the ANC deserve another chance to tackle the issue? Your views matter to us; please share them in the comments.