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Johannesburg - ANC Youth League (ANCYL) leader Julius Malema vowed again on Sunday to "take land without payment" at the closing ceremony of his organisation's elective conference in Midrand, Johannesburg.
"There is no way you can be diplomatic about the issue of land. We will never be diplomatic about willing buyer, willing seller. It has failed," Malema told delegates.
He said the ANC at its last elective conference in Polokwane, in December 2007, acknowledged that an alternative needed to be found to the willing buyer, willing seller policy.
"The leadership of the ANC must implement the Polokwane resolution. Polokwane said willing buyer, willing seller has failed and we must find an alternative.
"You have failed to find an alternative. We must take the land without payment," said Malema.
But he said: "If you have got an alternative, we are prepared to listen."
Malema said the delegates who attended the four-day conference were "ready to confront white monopoly capital".
"They are determined to reclaim their land and we are asking for leadership."
And if the ruling party's leadership failed on this matter, the youth league would "lead an unled revolution which seeks to reclaim the land", said Malema.
A constitutional framework
The acceleration of land redistribution needed to be debated - but within a constitutional framework, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe told the conference.
"As we approach the centenary of the 1913 Land Act in 2013, we need to have some meaningful debates about acceleration of land restitution, within our constitutional framework," Motlanthe told delegates at the closing ceremony of the ANCYL's 24th conference.
"These and related challenges that define the history of oppression are matters which I hope the ANC will adequately address as we move towards 2013."
Motlanthe said Sunday commemorated the passing of the 1913 Land Act by the apartheid government, which had "devastating consequences" for blacks.
He said this piece of legislation removed the "only means Africans had to fend for themselves".
"The loss of land meant all other resources relating to land, such as livestock, seeds, were also no longer accessible, thus snuffing out the only means Africans had to fend for themselves."
The Land Act was the first major piece of segregation legislation passed by the Union parliament. The act decreed that only certain areas of the country could be owned by blacks.
"There is no way you can be diplomatic about the issue of land. We will never be diplomatic about willing buyer, willing seller. It has failed," Malema told delegates.
He said the ANC at its last elective conference in Polokwane, in December 2007, acknowledged that an alternative needed to be found to the willing buyer, willing seller policy.
"The leadership of the ANC must implement the Polokwane resolution. Polokwane said willing buyer, willing seller has failed and we must find an alternative.
"You have failed to find an alternative. We must take the land without payment," said Malema.
But he said: "If you have got an alternative, we are prepared to listen."
Malema said the delegates who attended the four-day conference were "ready to confront white monopoly capital".
"They are determined to reclaim their land and we are asking for leadership."
And if the ruling party's leadership failed on this matter, the youth league would "lead an unled revolution which seeks to reclaim the land", said Malema.
A constitutional framework
The acceleration of land redistribution needed to be debated - but within a constitutional framework, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe told the conference.
"As we approach the centenary of the 1913 Land Act in 2013, we need to have some meaningful debates about acceleration of land restitution, within our constitutional framework," Motlanthe told delegates at the closing ceremony of the ANCYL's 24th conference.
"These and related challenges that define the history of oppression are matters which I hope the ANC will adequately address as we move towards 2013."
Motlanthe said Sunday commemorated the passing of the 1913 Land Act by the apartheid government, which had "devastating consequences" for blacks.
He said this piece of legislation removed the "only means Africans had to fend for themselves".
"The loss of land meant all other resources relating to land, such as livestock, seeds, were also no longer accessible, thus snuffing out the only means Africans had to fend for themselves."
The Land Act was the first major piece of segregation legislation passed by the Union parliament. The act decreed that only certain areas of the country could be owned by blacks.
