South Africa News

Land on which homes built included in expropriation: Julius Malema

Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema says land expropriation without compensation will include land on which bonded houses have been built.

Speaking to the media in Braamfontein on Thursday‚ Malema said land would become the main condition for the ANC if it wants to get support in 2019.

He said the party wishes the ANC support would drop enough to need the EFF to rule.

He then dismissed fears that investors would run away if the state would take land from citizens in the implementation of land expropriation without compensation.

“We wrote a parliamentary question to all departments asking them how many hectares of land they own and what it is used for. The same goes for the province and municipalities.

Julius Malema

“We want to prove one thing – people say when the land is in the hands of the state‚ there will not be investors. It is a myth. It is wrong. Most of the state-owned land has actually been leased out and people are investing in it. Knowing they are not owning it‚ yet they put money in it‚” Malema said.

Then he explained how the EFF wants land expropriation without compensation to be implemented across the country.

“We are nationalising the land and everything that comes with the land underground‚ not these things on top. If you’ve got a bond‚ we will talk to the bank that we have taken the land. [We will ask the bank] how much was the land and they will tell us and we will say that is gone without compensation. You will be left with [only] the bond of the house.

“We’ve never said we are nationalising the houses. We are nationalising the land.

“If you have a bonded house‚ you must continue to pay but we will give you a discount because we have taken that debt away from you. We are not going to pay any bank‚” Malema said.

The business breakfast was the first of its kind‚ allowing editors to have direct interaction with the leadership of the EFF.

Malema added that there were many examples where private investors were investing in state-owned land.

“Take Ushaka Marine [World] for instance. That facility is owned by the municipality. People have invested in it. They’ve put their own money in it. A lot of investment that gets to be announced by the state. The majority of those are done on state land.

“We are going to release a list of huge projects which go into billions of rands happening on state land. People never said that we cannot put money on this project because the land is owned by the state‚” he said.

Source: Timeslive