House Chair, Deputy President, colleagues and the House, yes, indeed, it is true your dignity and your identity come from exactly where you originate. The first question someone asks you today is not even your name, but it is where you live. I think it is very, very important that what has happened pre-1994 where the land was taken away from our people must be returned to the people.
But having said that we must also be mindful of the fact that section 25 does provides for expropriation, and there is no doubt about that. We have unduly delayed the process over the period of time to accelerate land reform in South Africa. Let us be honest about that.
But what we find today is that we are coming here as political parties at the expense of the poorest of the poor, we are grandstanding making this to be a political thing rather than
really addressing the challenges of our people in terms of their land and their dignity. The NFP will support any process that will accelerate land reform in South Africa. But I am also saying that we are not a banana republic where you just go and take land from one person and give it to somebody else. That is not what we must do in South Africa. Let us learn from what is happening in the rest of the world and do the right thing.
While restitution must take place and if there is a need for the ad hoc committee, yes, the NFP will support it. But let us be mindful of food security. Let us be mindful of even the lands we take and gave away. Have they been productive? What is going to happen? Let us look at the economy, and let's look at the bigger picture. Let us not do it because we want to score points and get votes, but let's do it because it is the right thing to do. That is what the NFP says.
The Constitution is very clear that the land belongs to everybody who is in this country - it belongs to everyone who lives on it. Whether you are white, whether you are black and whether you are brown the land belongs to everybody. Let us be mindful that two wrongs do not make a right. There is a
perception in South that all whites have been dishonest and they have stolen the land. It is not true. This is causing disunity in South Africa. The NFP says, for the purpose of harmony and calling ourselves the rainbow nation let us work together in the interest of the country and the people we serve. The NFP will support this on condition it is the right thing and we are going to address it in a manner that is not going to disadvantage anybody. Thank you very much.