LAND EXPROPRIATION
JONNY STEINBERG: ANC in a schizophrenic fight with its own reflection
How to make sense of the following antinomies? In the years after the ANC came to power, hundreds of thousands of black farm tenants and farm workers were evicted from commercial farms. While the governing party went through the motions of writing legislation to protect them, in reality it looked on as untold numbers lost everything. Later, in its quest to make allies with traditional leaders, the ANC backed legislation to weaken the rights of ordinary people to communal land. Now, the same party is urging for the expropriation of land without compensation because the redistribution of land has been too slow. What is one to make of this riotous inconsistency? One could put it down to cynicism or opportunism or a simple disregard for ordinary people. But perhaps something more interesting is going on. Across Europe and North America a wave of new populist politics is on the rise. From the rustbelt of the US to the post-industrial cities in the north of England, people have lost trust...
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