The land question is probably the biggest issue that the South African struggle is facing. The manner in which the Apartheid Government dispossessed the rightful owners, turning masses of people into pariahs in the land of their birth, is in itself a programme for revolution.

The position of the APDUSA on the land question was made very clear a long time ago, via its Ten Point Programme, Point 7, which states, “Revision of the Land Question in accordance with the above. (The relations of serfdom at present existing on the Land must go, together with the Land Acts, together with the restrictions upon acquiring land. A new division of the land in conformity with the existing rural population living on the land and working on the land is the first task of a democratic State and Parliament).

The ushering in of the new dispensation in South Africa, that is the aftermath of the grand betrayal, the negotiated settlement, gave capitalism the country on a silver platter. The oppressed blacks were given token positions in parliament to sustain the grip of Capitalism on the oppressed workers and peasants. We thought the days of forced removals were gone, but surprisingly this evil act resurfaced recently in the province of the Northern Cape. The complex process of land restitution is taking too long to resolve the claims submitted by various communities all over the country. The Schmidtsdrift Community is involved in one of these land claim processes which is taking forever to be resolved, because of the following reasons:

♦   There is a company which owns the mining rights on the land

♦  The Northern Cape Government, which can loosely be described as the overseers of the process, are paying lip service to the problems of the community

♦   Northern Cape and other politicians are blocking the restitution process so that they can allocate benefits to themselves instead of the community.

This very piece of land was used to resettle the San community, some of whom naively assisted the South African Defence Force in tracking and killing oppressed people in areas such as Namibia. A time frame was set for the San Community to move out of the area and it was given some land close to Kimberley called Platfontein. Some of them did eventually move to the new area, but others remained behind. This remaining group is now clashing with land claimants, who via the Communal Property Association (CPA), then ordered the Red Ants to forcibly remove them from the land. Many people were displaced, families divided and possessions damaged. As this process unfolded, there was no intervention on the part of the Northern Cape Provincial Government. This evil act is a painful reminder of what the Apartheid Government did to the oppressed people. The worrying factor is that in this case, the oppressed are doing the same to each other. Why is this? Are we regressing instead of progressing in liberating ourselves? Is this an example of upgraded black on black violence?

Let us go back to the basics. Why are we in the current position? Let us remind ourselves of the real issues that are facing us and put the struggle back on track. It is a struggle against Capitalism and its caretaker Government. Let us organise the working class and the peasantry into a formidable force because they are the ones who have nothing to lose, but their chains. They have something worth fighting for. This should be done in line with the following point: The democratic demands of the workers and the peasantry shall be paramount in the orientation of the APDUSA in both its short term and long term objectives.