Looking left: Free State premier Ace Magashule wants to move more rapidly to deracialise the economy. Photo: David Harrison
More than half the property leased to the Free State provincial administration must be owned by black people before the end of Ace Magashule’s second term in office in 2019, the Free State premier said in his state of the province address last week.
“The lease portfolio of government property [in the Free State] is sitting at 74% white and 26% black. We will ensure that this skewed pattern of ownership changes to at least a 50% share for black landlords by 2020,” he said.
He later told the Mail & Guardian he would make it a point that, before he left office in 2019, 60% of property would be owned by black people, in line with President Jacob Zuma’s call for radical economic transformation. Magashule warned that if urgent steps were not taken to deracialise the economy, the poor would soon run out of patience.
“If blacks are not actively participating in the economy, we are going to have instability in the country,” said the long-serving ANC provincial chairman, who is being touted by some in the Zuma camp as the next ANC secretary general.
Magashule also emphasised the need to fast-track land redistribution for black people. “The policy of willing buyer, willing seller has not brought about equity or a radical shift on the issue of land ownership. We welcome the promulgation of the Land Expropriation Act in 2016, which will enable government to
distribute the land on an equitable basis to all the landless masses of our people.”
He said, although the government was aware it needed to accelerate land expropriation, he urged South Africans to use constitutional means to get land. “Land grabs and all manner of lawlessness will not be tolerated. Such acts must face the full might of the law,” he said.
He said his provincial administration would continue to invest its resources in education as part of the radical economic transformation agenda. After his province became the first in the country to break the 90% pass threshold for the 2016 matric results, Magashule this week announced an ambitious target of 95% for the class of 2017.
He said the provincial government would establish education development committees in every town in the province. These would create hubs where unemployed university graduates, retired teachers and principals would participate in education programmes and ensure the wellbeing of learners.
The premier was pleased that his administration had increased the number of bursaries it offered from 139 in 2009 to 8 232. Among these, about 861 students were pursuing various fields of study in foreign countries, including Russia, Cuba, China, India, Germany and Turkey. “We have reached agreements with local and international companies to provide experiential training opportunities, internships to our students in order to prepare them for industry,” said Magashule.