“People are going to blame the PAC for having failed to hand over land when it led the Ministry of Land Affairs.”
The Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) appears to have been set up to fail in the land reform portfolio, according to analyst Gakwi Mashego.
PAC leader Mzwanele Nyhontso’s appointment as Minister of Land Reform and Rural Development in the Government of National Unity (GNU) is designed to create an impression of seriousness about anticipated radical changes in land redistribution in the country.
“In actual fact, it sets the PAC up for failure because people will blame the PAC for not delivering land when it managed the Ministry of Land Affairs,” the Mpumalanga independent political analyst told the Highveld Chronicle in an interview.
Mashego further stated that over the past 30 years, the government’s claimed strides in land reform have not truly been reforms. “It has been restitution of parked land where people were evicted, and through the Land Restitution Commission (LRC), they bought back the land and handed it over to communities, setting these communities up for failure because giving land without providing tools to utilize it is akin to setting them up to fail.”
Land has been central to PAC ideology since it split from the ANC in 1959, rejecting the ANC’s belief that “the land belongs to all who live in it, both white and black,” and advocating instead for a South Africa based on African nationalism.
“Taking on the land issue, which the ANC failed to resolve in the past 30 years due to lack of intention, and giving it to the PAC, is essentially hammering the final nail into PAC’s coffin,” Mashego said.
To add to his suspicions, Mashego criticised the appointment of Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen as Minister of Agriculture. “You cannot separate land from agriculture. Taking land affairs and assigning it to a party with only one seat in parliament limits their voice, while assigning agriculture to John Steenhuisen, whose party has a stronger voice, complicates matters.”
” You cannot get anything happening in that cabinet without the DA signing up on it. How then can anyone succeed in land affairs when agriculture is handled by a different minister? Steenhuisen will require substantial land, including land currently under dispute due to claims,” he said.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if the Department of Agriculture decides to buy back land from communities that are not utilising it, potentially redistributing it to white farmers.”
“So, I believe President Cyril Ramaphosa is setting Nyhontso up for failure to avoid blaming the ANC for neglecting the land issue.”
Mashego also suggested that Nyhontso is being set on a collision course with the DA. “Agriculture cannot proceed without land, which falls under Nyhontso’s portfolio, and pending claims cannot be settled within the next six years given the necessary funding,” he noted.
“Nyhontso is a career politician who may simply enjoy the perks of being a minister. I doubt he will prioritize land distribution. The PAC’s ideology on land seems outdated and impractical at this stage,” Mashego concluded.
