Parliament, August (ANA) - Land reform was good for stability and business in South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Tuesday.
Ramaphosa went to great lengths to explain South Africa's rationale behind plans to expropriate land without compensation while he attended a business roundtable with British Prime Minister Theresa May and a business delegation from the UK who were in Cape Town on their first stop of a three-country African tour.
"Addressing it [land reform] for us is important because it will enhance stability and we see this as a platform through which we can also enhance the growth of our economy because once this important resource is made available to more people, it becomes a platform for growth...," said Ramaphosa.
"We are now saying, those who have been concerned and fear that this will not be well handled should be reassured we are as responsible as we were when we settled the apartheid nightmare under the leadership of Nelson Mandela..."
Ramaphosa assured possible investors in South Africa that illegal land seizures would not result from whatever measures government introduces to effect land reform.
"Our response has been, yes, we will give effect for this claim for land, we will do it in terms of our Constitution, we will do it based not on land grabbing, we will do it to ensure that all South Africans do have a right to own land and to own property."
May said the UK supported land reform on condition that it was done legally and via a democratic process.
The British PM's comments were in stark contrast to that of US President Donald Trump who recently tweeted: "South African Government is now seizing land from white farmers”, causing an international uproar.
- African News Agency (ANA)
