South African politician Manjusotho Buthelizi Lusa considered that the new South African government’s confiscation of private lands without financial compensation would affect many Portuguese in the KwaZulu-Natal province on the country’s coast.
In an interview with Lusa, Prince Mangosuthu Bothelezi said that “there are many who will be affected”, especially businessmen, “such as hoteliers, among other big companies”, by the confiscation of land under the policy of “radical economic transformation”. The government of the African National Congress (ANC), in progress since the first democratic elections in 1994.
“There are Portuguese restaurants in all of our cities where there is a strong Portuguese presence,” said Prince Zulu Mangusoto Bothelezi, Prime Minister of Amazulu, the largest ethnic group in the country.
An estimated 30,000 Portuguese live in KwaZulu-Natal province, as they devote themselves to various economic sectors, such as agriculture, industry and services, a consular source in Durban told Lusa.
Several organizations, which submitted notes to parliament last month regarding the ANC government’s proposal, which has been in power since 1994, to change the land expropriation law without financial compensation, believe that it may also affect property rights in general.
The Kingdom of Amazulu is also the only kingdom in the state that has three million hectares of land administered by the well-meaning King Zwelithini Ka Picuzulu (1948-2021), who died last month, under the Ingoniyama Fund, which was created in 1994 to protect the “good-status” The physical and social of the tribes and communities “, which form part of the 11.5 million people living in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, which is the second largest province in the country by population.
“A few days before the KwaZulu-Natal government stops making room for the new political system [a partir de 1994]Prince Zulu explained to Lusa, that I passed a law called the “Ingonyama Trust Act” under which I incorporated all plots of land that were part of the kingdom into a corporate structure, thus ensuring that the king remained the sole director of it.
“The ANC was angry at my accusation of having a secret deal with the apartheid regime, and this is not true at all, because at that time we had the constitutional authority to do so (…) and Mr. Frederick de Klerk [então Presidente da República] I had to sign the law, so I went to it and signed the law. ”
Mangosuthu Buthize, 92, who is also honorary president of the fourth largest political formation in the opposition in South Africa, the Free Inkatha Party, which he founded in 1975, asserted that the Portuguese in KwaZulu-Natal is a “strong community” and “very close” to it.
“Because of this connection, I actually visited Madeira and Portugal,” he recalls.
In an interview with Lusa, at his party headquarters in Olundi, the main city of the Kingdom of Amazulu, some 300 kilometers off the coast of the country, Boothills also highlighted the participation of the Portuguese in the economic development of South Africa.
“Whites in general, and Portuguese in particular, have contributed greatly to the development of this country, and they have been included in various sectors of economic activity, which is why the contribution of the Portuguese covers a large part of the development of this country’s economy,” he said.
In response to a question from Lusa about whether Portugal should invest in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, Prince Zulu, who leads the succession of King Zwelethene ka Picuzulu, defended the investment.
“We also need Portuguese investments in all of South Africa, but I really appreciate my friendships because there are a lot of Portuguese and Portuguese businessmen in this province,” he added.
But he added, “If I were an investor in Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States, and I was asked to invest here in South Africa, and there was legislation to confiscate land without compensation, I would not come here.”
At the funeral of the well-meaning King Zwelithini ka Bhekuzulu, on March 18, Prince Mangosuthu Bhekuzulu pledged to continue the struggle for the security of communal lands in the region, which “fed and nourished” the people.
The Zulu people have already made it clear that they would rather die than lose, so I don’t know if that would be possible [o Governo] “He will have the courage to do anything,” said Lusa, referring to the implementation of the new law.
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