The Constitution must be changed to allow the expropriation of land without compensation, the ANC Youth League said on Tuesday.
“All our issues are locked there in section 25 of the Constitution,” ANCYL deputy president Ronald Lamola told reporters in Centurion, Pretoria.
The league discussed policy at a workshop on the weekend ahead of the ANC's policy conference later this month. It decided a minister of expropriation without compensation should be appointed.
Section 25 of the Constitution refers to property rights and sets out conditions for the expropriation of land with compensation.
Lamola said the ANC should not apologise for changing the Constitution - which would require a two-thirds majority in Parliament.
“The ANC must amend section 25 without apologising to any investor or anybody. The ANC must amend its own Constitution when it deems necessary,” he said.
If white South Africans did not hand land over to poor blacks, there could be land invasions like those that took place in Zimbabwe, the league warned.
“The nature of the inequalities... they are creating a situation where it's impossible for us to maintain stability,” Lamola said.
The league disapproved of the youth wage subsidy, calling instead for a job search subsidy.
This would involve feeding unemployed youth so that they would have the energy to study and search for jobs. Lamola said this had been successful in Brazil.
Lamola said the nationalisation of mining and other sectors of the economy was inevitable.
“The whole world is moving towards nationalisation... nationalisation is inevitable. Every society that is serious about changing inequalities... is nationalising and is having ownership of the strategic sectors of the economy by the state.” - Sapa