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| Photo: https://dearsouthafrica.co.za/section-25 |
Meeting the Challenge of Land
A Statement by the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference
Urgency of the Land Issue
It is widely accepted that the matter of land ownership in South Africa calls for urgent attention. The consultations conducted throughout the land have evoked and are evoking strong feelings which cannot be ignored or simply brushed away. A nerve with strong historical roots and which cries out for healing and the restoration of justice, has been touched.
Based on Biblical teaching (1) and further developed by the Social Teaching of the Catholic Church, we affirm that the land is meant for all the peoples of the earth and is held by us in a sacred trust. There is no such thing as the absolute ownership of land. (2) Human Beings are always at the centre of our social and economic life. It is a matter of human and divine justice that people have access to the land and that it be equitably distributed. In this perspective, priority has to be given to the poor and the landless. (3)
To ignore these fundamental realities is to invite a backlash that can only be harmful to all the citizens of our land.
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