LETTER: Land isn’t everything; it’s the only thing

SA celebrates Freedom Day to mark the liberation of our country and its people from colonialism and white minority domination (apartheid). We are now 28 years into democracy, yet we remain a long way from solving many of the legacies of apartheid. And we now face new challenges, such as growing inequality and political and economic instability in the region caused by a new elite who are interested only in themselves.

Freedom Day therefore serves as a reminder that the guarantee of our freedom requires us to remain ever vigilant against corruption and the erosion of the values of the freedom struggle, and to build an active citizenry that will work towards wiping out the legacy of racism, inequality and the promotion of the rights embodied in our constitution.

Most black people are without land, yet we cannot claim to be free if we don’t have land. The first thing step to empowering black people is to give them back their land. Black empowerment initiatives are useless without giving back land because everything comes from the land. If you deny Africans their land, you are preventing them from being part of the economy.

You cannot talk about respect for human rights if you deny other people land. Land is the most basic human right.

Tshepo Diale, Nkwe Estate

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