South Africans must become obsessed with land reform if they want to avoid urban land grabs and the chaos that has destroyed Zimbabwe, Gugile Nkwinti, the minister of rural development and land reform, warned yesterday.
Responding to questions at a news conference in Cape Town, he said the government's plan to transfer 30% of white-owned farmland to blacks by 2014 was just a beginning.
"No, 30% is not enough. Thirty percent by 2014 was just to demonstrate progress," Nkwinti said.
He confirmed that the deadline was under review "for practical reasons", but warned that failure to create equity in land ownership could destroy the country.
"Yes, we are obsessed, actually. People out there, they really talk about justice and redress and, at some point, you can see that this is an area that has a great potential for polarisation in South Africa.
"You have seen it happen elsewhere - next door. Our obsession is about obviating that polarisation materialising in South Africa, and all South Africans must be obsessed with that question...about obviating the calamity which would come about with polarisation in this country," he said.
Nkwinti said the distribution pattern inherited from white rule was changing as many of the 87% of the people who were restricted to 13% of the land began to move to the cities.
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