ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION
INTERVIEW: Time to change the Constitution to allow land seizure, says Mbete
National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbete talks to Genevieve Quintal about land, her role in the struggle, and why the ANC can’t ignore rating downgrades
Baleka Mbete cried the day that the provision for land expropriation was adopted as part of the democratic Constitution’s property clause. Along with Willie Hofmeyr, she had been tasked by the ANC caucus to focus on talks on this clause. In 2017, SA celebrates 20 years since the adoption of the Constitution. The National Assembly speaker and ANC chairwoman says she believes in land expropriation without compensation and now is the time to change the Constitution. "For me nothing is as exciting as the opportunity for us to reopen that and relook and say, ‘How do we strengthen it’, because now, 20 years later, we have to accept that the land-reform process has been too slow," Mbete says. "There are those who say, ‘Implement the property clause the way it is’. I was never happy with it and, frankly, I know probably many people won’t be happy with me saying I agreed more with the PAC [Pan Africanist Congress of Azania] position because our land was stolen." There are several reasons why...
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