Johannesburg – The SA Reserve Bank must be owned by the state in order to serve the interest of South Africans, the EFF said on Saturday.
“The general practice in the world is that governments own their reserve bank. South Africa is one of the two if not three that do not own their own reserve bank,” said Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema.
“It [Reserve Bank] regulates the interest rates and once that is in the state ownership it will be regulated to the benefit of the people, so that our people can afford to buy houses and cars without having to pay high interest.”
Malema spoke to Sapa on the sidelines of an EFF consultative forum held in Johannesburg.
The members discussed principles on which the party’s policies would be based.
One of the priorities discussed during the plenary sessions was land ownership.
Manifesto priorities
Malema said the party was clear on what would be the final policy of the organisation.
“The land issue is a national crisis. Our people have waited for the transfer of land for the past 20 years. The ANC has promised that it will deliver 30% of the land by 2014, but it has only delivered 8%,” he said.
“The majority of our people don’t have the land, to own the means of production for the development of this country.”
He said the position of the EFF on land ownership would be part of the party’s priorities in its manifesto.
“The position is that we are expropriating without compensation. We want that to be an act [of law], and before it becomes an act, our people should begin the process of occupying the land,” he said.
Malema said the state would have to resolve the dispute with the owners of the private land which will be occupied.
Consultative process
“But our people don’t have to be evicted. They [government] must stop evicting people who occupy the land.”
EFF also wanted a full audit of who owned the land and for what purpose it was being used.
“We need to know who owns the land and what are they using it for. There is a lot of abundant land which has been fenced and is not being used for anything. We want to use that land for production and creation of jobs in South Africa,” Malema said.
Mbuyiseni Ndlozi national spokesperson of the EFF said the consultative process was the beginning of policy discussion for the party.
“This was a national consultative forum which started policy conversations for the national assembly which is taking place next week,” he said.
The national assembly would be made up of representatives from all the regions and provinces, and it would conclude its EFF policy discussions next weekend.
Other policy issues discussed at the consultative forum held on Saturday were education, health, corruption and economic transformation.
SAPA
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