There needed to be expropriation of land without compensation, and the nationalisation of mines, ANC Youth League deputy president Ronald Lamola said at policy talks in Pretoria.

“We need to break the apartheid economy we received in 1994. White people are still living a Hollywood lifestyle ... while the majority are still living a third world lifestyle.”

“The majority of South Africans are not living below the poverty line because they are getting a social grant,” said Lamola.

He added they needed to start playing a meaningful role in sectors like agriculture and mining.

Lamola said the “willing buyer, willing seller” approach to land restitution was not working. He said the land was taken and people were enslaved so others could make a profit.

“They had cheap labour ... that made them profit. Why must we compensate them? The only solution is expropriation without

compensation.”

Lamola was giving a political overview at youth league talks on “economic freedom in our lifetime” at the University of South Africa. The youth league would take its views to the ANC’s national policy conference in Midrand next week.

Earlier, Lamola said young people had to be given a platform in the mainstream economy so they could play a meaningful role in society.

Darul Ihsan Media Desk