Cape Town — Former public protector, Thuli Madonsela, hit back at the controversial comments made by political analyst, Moeletsi Mbeki, who said white people did not steal the land, they conquered it.
Mbeki, who is the brother of former president, Thabo Mbeki, said in an interview on Wednesday that whites fought for the land they have. He was also very critical of the African National Congress (ANC) successes and failures in the past 30 years, The Citizen reported.
“There was a war between the black people and the white people and the whites won the war. They did not steal the land they conquered it. No, they fought against it, they were defeated and when you are defeated you have to accept defeat.” Mbeki said.
As reported by TimesLIVE, Madonsela was one of many people who responded to Mbeki’s comments, ultimately disagreeing with what he said.
“Most land was not won through conquest. Some was gifted. Some was acquired through stealth (for example, sales that were not understood, but most land was stolen through legislation such as the Glen Grey Act, Natives Land Act and the Group Areas Act),” she said.
“Theft was when the government of South Africa stole land from Africans through the 1913 Land Act and gave it to whites. Theft was when through the Group Areas Act of 1950 the government stole land and other movable property from Indians, coloureds and Africans and gave it to whites. Theft was when on the eve of democracy, land belonging to the state was quickly siphoned away in 99-year leases to state functionaries and proxies. The list goes on.” she added.
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
