Zweli Mkhize – praag.org

South Africa’s land expropriation will be aimed at ‘whites only’ – minister

The land expropriation policy of South Africa’s ruling party, the ANC, will specifically target white people, according to Zweli Mkhize, the minister of cooperative governance and traditional affairs. Neither the property of black citizens nor land controlled by traditional (black) leaders “would be targeted”, he said.

The ANC, which has a long-standing and close relationship to the South African Communist Party, is an Afro-Marxist party that has long threatened to nationalise all farmland in South Africa. Last year the party adopted a policy of “land expropriation without compensation”, which was also adopted by the South African parliament in February this year (2018).

The party also wants to change the South African constitution to allow it to confiscated land at will from white citizens.

The government met with representatives of the National House of Traditional Leaders over that body’s worries about the planned redistribution process, Mkhize’s ministry said in an emailed statement on Friday.

“A wrong impression has been created that the discussion on land expropriation includes land in the hands of traditional leaders,” Mkhize stated.

Victim’s ‘private parts displayed like a trophy’ during Shobashobane massacre

The 19 people massacred at Shobashobane as they were about to celebrate Christmas 1995 should be remembered as heroes whose blood was spilt so that we could enjoy our democracy today, said KwaZulu-Natal Premier Dr Zweli Mkhize.

“It is our responsibility now to forgive the perpetrators of this act, and to ensure that they too are beneficiaries of our democracy,” he said at a commemoration service in the area near Port Shepstone on Sunday.

Mkhize, accompanied by State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele, Health MEC Sibongiseni Dhlomo, Human Settlements and Public Works MEC Ravi Pillay, suspended police chief Bheki Cele, and members of the ANC’s disbanded military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe, spent Christmas with the families affected by the massacre.

Cele, while struggling to hold back tears, described in graphic detail how one victim had been chopped to pieces “as if someone was preparing to braai meat”, and how he, together with the region’s ANC leadership, had pleaded with the police days earlier to offer protection. The ANC had received information of an impending attack on all ANC supporters in the area, but their pleas fell on deaf ears.

“I received a call on Christmas Day saying there had been an attack and what I saw was beyond belief. The killers were parading in the area with the private parts of another victim, saying this was their trophy,” said an emotional Cele.

Mkhize also pledged to ensure a memorial was built on the victims’ burial site, and said all their graves should have gravestones by next year.

The Zulu premier lauded the community for having been at peace since 1995. “I want to salute the community of Shobashobane for their commitment towards peace and reconciliation. They have said the time for political violence is over and never again should the brothers and sisters go to war against each other,” he said. – Daily News and government press release

‘They are calling us bantus’: ANC leader

There was still a place in the country where blacks were called bantus, delegates, and homelanders, the ANC’s KwaZulu-Natal leader Senzo Mchunu said in Durban on Sunday.

“It is the same people in the Western Cape who call us refugees,” he told a rally marking the start of the party’s 2014 election campaign.

“They are calling us bantus. They refer to us as representatives. [They are] referring to us as delegates, referring to us as homelanders, natives,” he told thousands of African National Congress supporters at Princess Magogo Stadium in KwaMashu.

He warned supporters of people trying to secure votes in the Lindelani area of neighbouring Ntuzuma. Mchunu did not name the Democratic Alliance or Zille. On Saturday, DA leader Helen Zille visited the area. She said she saw no reason why the DA could win control of the eThekwini municipality in 2016.

Mchunu urged supporters to not to resort to violence.

“There is no need for comrades to engage in violent activities, whether it comes from a comrade or a non-comrade.”

He received a rousing welcome when he arrived at the stadium and walked around greeting supporters. A sea of yellow T-shirts emblazoned with a photograph of President Jacob Zuma swayed to the rhythm of the music blaring across the venue.

Mchunu said: “Peace, political tolerance and delivery will be a part of our campaign to deepen democracy in our country.”

He urged the youth to be patient and grab every opportunity that came their way.

“In the near future we are going to succeed to create job opportunities.”

The party faithful were urged to make sure the ANC would be ruled by the “green, black, and gold”, the ruling party’s colours.

He said the party had delivered infrastructure, from houses to roads and water, and had freed the country from apartheid.

Officers from both the police and the eThekwini metro police kept watch outside the stadium while ANC marshals ensured order inside the venue.

Several buses and minibus taxis were used to ferry supporters to the event. The rally was the first led by Mchunu since he was elected premier of the province on September 26. His predecessor Zweli Mkhize resigned as premier of KwaZulu-Natal to become the party’s full-time treasurer general. – Sapa

Mkhize resigns as KZN premier

KwaZulu-Natal premier Zweli Mkhize announced on Thursday that he was stepping down as premier of the province.

The ANC’s chairman in the province Senzo Mchunu was sworn in as acting premier by KwaZulu-Natal Judge President Chiman Patel in Durban.

Mkhize said his tasks as treasurer general of the African National Congress had prompted the decision.

He praised Mchunu and his colleagues in the KwaZulu-Natal executive.

He also thanked President Jacob Zuma for his support.

Mkhize would be based at ANC headquarters Luthuli House in Johannesburg full time as from September 1. – Sapa