President Jacob Zuma believes the question of land in South Africa must be resolved within the realm of the country's laws and constitution.

Zuma tackled the controversial issue in a speech at a Youth Day celebration in Hammarsdale, near Durban, yesterday.

"The land question is very much related to the economy," he said.

"The day there was dispossession of land, that's the day poverty began, that's the day inequality began, that's the day unemployment began."

Zuma said it was "more than correct" to apply policies that were "radical, revolutionary and changing the status quo economically".

"No one will do it for us but ourselves. The land question is a critical question. We must resolve that question within the law, within the constitution."