I apologise in advance to reference Twitter but a lot of the commentary on their regarding South Africa is completely unhinged and I think it needs to be spoken about as increasingly what happens in the right wing echo chamber is reflecting US foreign policy. 🧵Thread🧵 - ThreadSky

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africatakes.bsky.social • 20 days ago

I apologise in advance to reference Twitter but a lot of the commentary on their regarding South Africa is completely unhinged and I think it needs to be spoken about as increasingly what happens in the right wing echo chamber is reflecting US foreign policy.

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africatakes.bsky.social•20 days ago

This commentary really underlines the sheer ignorance of the recent debate about the land expropriation issue and of recent US policy addressing it.

Allow me a moment to explain just how backwards this is, and the policy it seeks to defend.

africatakes.bsky.social•20 days ago

The man in the video is Andile Mngxitama and while he is indeed in parliament, to describe him as one of the people “running South Africa” is a stretch. He is a member of uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) an opposition party that has been undercutting support for the ANC from the left.

africatakes.bsky.social•20 days ago

Mngxitama and figures like him have wanted a much more radical version of expropriation without compensation. More like Zimbabwe, they argued for the nationalisation of land and redistribution of white owned property.

africatakes.bsky.social•20 days ago

A version of this idea was not unpopular in South Africa, where white South Africans (about 8% of the population) own about 75% of all land. If you are honest it’s not surprising as to why. So the ANC needed to have answer for this demand and so moved towards expropriation.

africatakes.bsky.social•20 days ago

Ramaphosa has consistently highlighted the need to attract foreign investment and so clearly came at this policy with a degree of reluctance and that is reflected in the policy as it currently exists. A policy that is designed to be unwieldy and to discourage its use.

africatakes.bsky.social•20 days ago

It can only be used in certain instances, it has to be a last resort after tough negotiation and it can be challenged in the courts. In other words it is time consuming and expensive for the state.

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