Former apartheid rainbow nation, former President Thabo Mbeki has lambasted the governing African National Congress (ANC) for turning into “a black party”.
He made the comment as he criticised the party’s decision to expropriate white-owned land without compensation.
The ANC was targeting white people and had abandoned its commitment to “non-racialism”, Mr Mbeki warned.
The party says it is pursuing the policy to tackle racial inequality in land ownership.
Nearly a quarter of a century after the end of racist system of apartheid, white people – who make up 9% of the population – own 72% of the farmland that is held by individuals, government figures show.
Up until recently, the official policy was to redistribute land on a willing-seller-willing-buyer principle but this has taken a different turn since the ANC backed expropriation without compensation as a way to redress the historical inequalities.
Mr Mbeki made his comments in a pamphlet leaked to local media. The pamphlet was published by the Thabo Mbeki Foundation, and is widely believed to have been written by the former president.
