– Land reparations –
Land ownership is also still largely in white hands. The latest official statistics show that 4.4 million hectares of land have been redistributed since 1994 – roughly five percent of white-owned land.
Political economist Kwandile Kondlo believes that the gains registered in the past 20 years ring hollow without the land issue being addressed.
“Black people are beginning to feel that they have been hard done by as far as land ownership is concerned,” he said. “We can’t honestly claim success if we have not made progress in that area.”
The emotive subject is a central plank of the new Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party led by former ANC youth league firebrand Julius Malema.
He promises expropriation of land from whites without compensation and the nationalisation of the mines and banks.
With his red beret and fiery rhetoric, Malema draws thousands to his rallies, and the Sunday Times poll predicts the EFF will take four percent of the vote.
“Such voices were bound to come up given the state’s track record,” said Kondlo. “We are sitting on a time bomb.”
The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, a successor to a series of reincarnated white liberal parties has growing black leadership and support and is expected to boost its share of the vote from 16.6 percent in 2009 to 23.1 percent, according to the poll.
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