Celebrated lawyer Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi berated the government for being soft on the land issue at the launch of his book The Land is Ours in Mthatha on Friday night.
He was speaking to 500 people at Walter Sisulu University’s (WSU) Nelson Mandela Drive Campus – his alma mater, at a launch organised by the university convocation president Zincedile Tiya, another sharp legal mind.
He said the government had failed black people in the past 23 years by not appropriating even one piece of land without compensation, despite having the power to do so.
Ngcukaitobi said: “I was asked in 2008 by the Thabo Mbeki government to draft an appropriation act for them, which I did, but they never passed it. The fact of the matter is that the government has no backbone when it comes to land.
“Hopefully now that they have been told by their own members in the recent national conference that they are tired of waiting and want the expropriation of land without compensation, they will do it.
“They know they will be voted out of power if they do not implement the resolution of the conference,” he said.
Ngcukaitobi, who was born and bred in Cala and did his B Proc and LLB at WSU and the former University of Transkei, spoke on a wide range of issues, including constitutionalism, subjugation of the black race, government resistance to briefing black lawyers, corruption, and the importance of education.
“There is no legal impediment to the expropriation of land without compensation. The only impediment is political. If they want a law, it is there, it is called the Constitution.
“If they want another one, they can pass it. They do not need two thirds. they need 51% and they have got it.
“They have expropriated land from black people to build roads, railway lines but never appropriated land from white people with the purpose of redistributing land.
“They have always had the power to do it but they have never tested it. We do not have a legal problem with land reform, we have a political problem. Land unites us. The Constitution is meaningless until it responds to the fundamental problems facing South Africa – the subjugation of the black race,” said Ngcukaitobi.
The Land is Ours tells the story of South Africa’s first black lawyers, who worked in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
“In an age of aggressive colonial expansion, land dispossession and forced labour, these men believed in a constitutional system that respected individual rights and freedom, and they used the law as an instrument against injustice,” he said.
The book follows the lives and ideas of Henry Sylvester Williams, Alfred Mangena, Richard Msimang, Pixley ka Isaka Seme, Ngcubu Poswayo and George Montsioa, who were all members of the ANC. It analyses the legal cases they took on, explores how they reconciled the law with the political upheavals of the day, and considers how they sustained their fidelity to the law when legal victories were undermined by politics.
“The Land is Ours shows that these lawyers developed the concept of a bill of rights, which is now an international norm. The book is particularly relevant in the light of current calls to scrap the Constitution and its protection of individual rights. It clearly demonstrates that, from the beginning, the struggle for freedom was based on the idea of the rule of law,” he said.
The event was attended by Labour Deputy Minister Nkosi Phathekile Holomisa and Post and Telecommunications Deputy Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, Judge Mbulelo Jolwana and Judge Buyiswa Majiki, university management, lawyers and other influential people.
All applauded Ngukaitobi for the book, saying it would serve as an eye-opener on how legal knowledge could assist with developing the country.
“Land is one thing that unites us. We must all be united towards the goal that will eventually lead to economic freedom,” said Stella-Ndabeni. — lulamilef@dispatch.co.za
Advocate slams state for dragging feet on land issue
He was speaking to 500 people at Walter Sisulu University’s (WSU) Nelson Mandela Drive Campus – his alma mater, at a launch organised by the university convocation president Zincedile Tiya, another sharp legal mind.
He said the government had failed black people in the past 23 years by not appropriating even one piece of land without compensation, despite having the power to do so.
Ngcukaitobi said: “I was asked in 2008 by the Thabo Mbeki government to draft an appropriation act for them, which I did, but they never passed it. The fact of the matter is that the government has no backbone when it comes to land.
“Hopefully now that they have been told by their own members in the recent national conference that they are tired of waiting and want the expropriation of land without compensation, they will do it.
“They know they will be voted out of power if they do not implement the resolution of the conference,” he said.
Ngcukaitobi, who was born and bred in Cala and did his B Proc and LLB at WSU and the former University of Transkei, spoke on a wide range of issues, including constitutionalism, subjugation of the black race, government resistance to briefing black lawyers, corruption, and the importance of education.
“There is no legal impediment to the expropriation of land without compensation. The only impediment is political. If they want a law, it is there, it is called the Constitution.
“If they want another one, they can pass it. They do not need two thirds. they need 51% and they have got it.
“They have expropriated land from black people to build roads, railway lines but never appropriated land from white people with the purpose of redistributing land.
“They have always had the power to do it but they have never tested it. We do not have a legal problem with land reform, we have a political problem. Land unites us. The Constitution is meaningless until it responds to the fundamental problems facing South Africa – the subjugation of the black race,” said Ngcukaitobi.
The Land is Ours tells the story of South Africa’s first black lawyers, who worked in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
“In an age of aggressive colonial expansion, land dispossession and forced labour, these men believed in a constitutional system that respected individual rights and freedom, and they used the law as an instrument against injustice,” he said.
The book follows the lives and ideas of Henry Sylvester Williams, Alfred Mangena, Richard Msimang, Pixley ka Isaka Seme, Ngcubu Poswayo and George Montsioa, who were all members of the ANC. It analyses the legal cases they took on, explores how they reconciled the law with the political upheavals of the day, and considers how they sustained their fidelity to the law when legal victories were undermined by politics.
“The Land is Ours shows that these lawyers developed the concept of a bill of rights, which is now an international norm. The book is particularly relevant in the light of current calls to scrap the Constitution and its protection of individual rights. It clearly demonstrates that, from the beginning, the struggle for freedom was based on the idea of the rule of law,” he said.
The event was attended by Labour Deputy Minister Nkosi Phathekile Holomisa and Post and Telecommunications Deputy Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, Judge Mbulelo Jolwana and Judge Buyiswa Majiki, university management, lawyers and other influential people.
All applauded Ngukaitobi for the book, saying it would serve as an eye-opener on how legal knowledge could assist with developing the country.
“Land is one thing that unites us. We must all be united towards the goal that will eventually lead to economic freedom,” said Stella-Ndabeni. — lulamilef@dispatch.co.za
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