The return of land to dispossessed people is crucial in restoring the identity of South Africans.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said this while he was delivering a keynote address at the Heritage Day celebrations in Upington, Northern Cape, today.

Ramaphosa said that land formed a big part of people’s identity before it was taken from them and that it was necessary to return and restore land to poor people for either farming, housing or business.

“We must say it very clearly. Our history, our identity as South Africans is closely linked to the question of land and it is for that reason that we say that land must be returned to our people because that is what really shapes our identity,” said Ramaphosa to loud cheers.

The land question has been a touchy subject in the country, especially after the ruling party, the ANC, took a resolution at its elective conference in 2017 that land must returned to the poor without any compensation.

A presidential advisory panel on land reform and agriculture in July released its report which, among others, recommended that the Land Claims Court must be strengthened to deal with restitution claims.

The panel also recommended the establishment of a land reform fund to aid land acquisition.

“As a people, we cannot have an identity without the land. The history of our forebears tells us that they were so closely linked with the land and when the land was taken away from them, it was like their identity and their being was stripped away from them,” said Ramaphosa.

“So our job, our task, must be to restore the identity of our people by making sure that we do speak our languages, we do practise our traditions, we observe our cultures and we return the land to our people as well,” said Ramaphosa.

His keynote address also focused on the preservation of indigenous languages which he said must be added to the school curriculum. Ramaphosa said that all languages must be given equal attention.

“There is no language in this country that is superior to another. There is no language we can say belongs to the past and must stay there. Every single language spoken in this country has equal value and equal worth,” said Ramaphosa.