In the early days of a new presidency following Jacob Zuma’s ignominious ousting, as the nation was ululating to see the back of him and cresting a wave of Ramaphoria, parliament was reassured that “expropriation without compensation (EWC) is here to stay”.
But Cyril Ramaphosa must be having second thoughts about his expressed commitment to EWC now that King Goodwill Zwelithini has slammed the 600-page report of the advisory panel on land reform.
The report has already highlighted that government’s plans to use government land for redistribution to dispossessed may be too costly, having as it does an estimated price tag of R240 billion.
But it’s the 30% of the land that government is targeting, most of it in rural KwaZulu-Natal, that has provoked the ire of the Zulu monarch.
Speaking through an aide from London where he and his royal entourage are attending 140-year anniversary celebrations of the famous Battle of Isandlwana, Zwelithini reiterated that under no circumstances would any Zulu territory be touched – not for any reason, including EWC.
Yet without a reconsideration of Zulu-held land, currently secured by the Ingonyama Trust which was set up prior to the 1994 elections to re-involve the IFP in the first democratic elections after it initially withdrew, the government will not make its 30% land redistribution target.
That’s to say if they could afford the R240 billion panel advisers have found it will cost.
It’s also not the first time that the government has hinted at dissolving the very trust protecting the land Zwelithini views as his domain. For what it’s worth – he is the sole trustee of Ingonyama.
When it was initially suggested that the trust be dissolved for EWC reasons by ANC stalwart Kgalema Motlanthe, Zwelithini threatened violent insurrection and Zulu secession.
Following yesterday’s panel report findings, cost feasibility notwithstanding, Zwelithini has again taken to war talk over land, and not because of Insandlwana commemorations in the UK, but out of fear that EWC could lead to government reclaiming land from the Zulu nation.
