ANC's Duarte Says S. Africa `Won't Be Another Zimbabwe' on Land

(Bloomberg) -- Plans by South Africa's ruling African National Congress for land reform won't undermine the economy or curb food output, Deputy Secretary-General Jessie Duarte said.

The country's land reform policies “won't be another Zimbabwe,” she told reporters in Johannesburg, referring to land policies of former President Robert Mugabe in South Africa's northern neighbor.

Land reform must be conducted “in an orderly manner,” Secretary-General Ace Magashule said at the same conference. On Dec. 20, the ANC said expropriating land without compensation should be among mechanisms to effect land reform, as long as it doesn't undermine the economy, agricultural production and food security.

The party's proposal to expropriate land without paying for it will be done responsibly and farming must continue as normal, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday. “There will be no smash and grab” of land, he told lawmakers in the House of Traditional Leaders in Cape Town.

To contact the reporter on this story: Arabile Gumede in Johannesburg at agumede@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alastair Reed at areed12@bloomberg.net, Jacqueline Mackenzie

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