DISPOSSESSION
AUBREY MATSHIQI: Colonisers have conquered far more than just the land
South Africa belongs to those who conquered it. This is a very important organising principle, and to ignore it is to be naïve in the extreme. This is a principle around which social, economic, race and other relations are organised in this country. It is a principle that constantly reminds me of the futility of being a political majority in Parliament when you are a minority in the economy, on the land, sites of knowledge and cultural production, as well as other areas of life from which the fullness of human dignity must spring. It is for this reason that, as a sangoma, the sounds of my drum, singing and dancing must not offend the ears of those who conquered the land of my ancestors. It is for this reason that expropriation of land, with or without compensation, will not happen unless we seek, and get, the consent and approval of the conquerors.As I listen to the "debate" on the expropriation of land without compensation, I am struck by the realisation that some of the arguments ...
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