Hon Deputy Speaker, "the white ox has all the pasture ... and the black ox has nowhere to graze. I am sorry if I cannot make that clear to you." [Interjections.] That was John Langalibalele Dube addressing a commission of white South Africans, protesting against this law, the 1913 Natives Land Act.
So, we are back to square one. That is what it is all about. Cope, thank you very much. It is clear that you read the Bill. I like hon Van der Merwe very much; however, he spoke for himself here. He did not speak for the IFP. He is a lawyer, and indeed we have a lot of land cases in which his firm is involved. [Interjections.] That is not the point. The point here is that even then, in 1913, John Langalibalele Dube had to speak like that out of frustration and had to say, "I am sorry if I cannot make that clear to you". He was speaking to people who did not listen. Even if they did listen, they were still reckless, because today, 100 years later, we are dealing with the same problem. What does this mean, white South Africans?
Ithetha ukuthini le nto? Ngoba kukho abantu abamhlophe nangoku kule Ndlu, sohlukene ngemibala. [What does this mean? Because there are whites in this House, we are different colours.]
It is clear. It's a question of a landed class, which is white in colour, and a landless class, which is black in colour, in South Africa. That is what it is all about. The hon Groenewald and some hon members talked about incompetence. Can you imagine this? Think about what Verwoerd said about the kind of education black people should have. Think about it! [Interjections.] You see, we were defined by white people, under Verwoerd, as "hewers of wood". That's all that we were.
Sithuthe amanzi, sithuthele nina. [We fetched water for you.]
Nee, daardie tyd is verby. [No that time has passed.]
Asikwazi ukuphila ngolo hlobo, ntozakuthi. Masisebenze sonke. [We can't live like that, colleagues. Let's work together.]
Join us! The ANC has strengths and weaknesses. The ANC's strength is that it had determined long ago that its responsibility is to move South Africa forward. [Applause.]
You know, when Chris Hani was killed, Nelson Mandela, talking to all South Africans who were involved in the struggle for a free South Africa, said that it was not the responsibility of the National Party to lead this country towards the one-man, one-vote majority rule election. He said so. He said it is our responsibility and that we should not follow what they had done. What they had done was to try and derail the process towards a democratic South Africa. This is what Nelson Mandela said.
That is what we are still dealing with here. Those who claim to be following Nelson Mandela's legacy, who are sitting on my left here, are not. They are just talking. They are blowing hot air. It is us, the ANC, that must push this country forward. Let them follow us. They've been following us for the last 100 and something years. Let's proceed. Hon Deputy Speaker, thank you very much. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.