South African court bars Malema from inciting land grabs

South Africa’s firebrand political leader,Julius Malema, has been barred from inciting illegal land grabs by the High Court in Pretoria .

The court granted a request filed by lobby groups to prevent Malema from encouraging land invasions. The leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Party has previously called for land occupation in South Africa, a call supported by his party.

The party says its policy on land restitution is to correct the imbalance of ownership created by apartheid with expropriation of land without compensation.

The governing African National Congress (ANC) also supports land expropriation but with compensation.

Land ownership in South Africa is an emotive issue where most of it remains in white hands 23 years after the end apartheid.

In February last year, the main house of parliament took a first step towards enabling the state make compulsory purchases of land to redress racial disparities in land ownership.