BARNEY MTHOMBOTHI: Must we allow Malema to inflict Zimbabwe's pain on our nation?
'It could do more harm than good, unravelling more than just land-ownership patterns in the country'
Parliament took leave of its senses this week. The decision to amend the constitution to allow for the seizure of land without payment or any compensation to the occupant is a descent to jungle justice, not in keeping with the society we are trying to build. The move might seem like a victory to some, but it's a pyrrhic one at best, if not pie in the sky. It could do more harm than good, unravelling more than just land-ownership patterns in the country. It will create unnecessary conflict without achieving its intended goal.Land is an emotive subject. It requires us all to act and speak of it in measured tones, not that of the frenzied zealotry we heard in the National Assembly this week. There is no question that land dispossession is a grave injustice which has to be put right if we are to have a relatively peaceful future. But adequate legal mechanisms are in place to do that. It is the government that has made a hash of the restitution and redistribution programme through underf...
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