Opening the debate on his motion, EFF leader Julius Malema said: "The time for reconciliation is over. Now is the time for justice."
The National Assembly on Tuesday set in motion a process to amend the Constitution so as to allow for the expropriation of land without compensation.
The motion was adopted with a vote of 241 in support, and 83 against. The only parties who did not support the motion were the DA, Freedom Front Plus, Cope and the ACDP. The matter will now be referred to the Constitutional Review Committee which must report back to Parliament by August 30.
The chief argument for the motion is to seek a restoration of black people's dignity, which is deeply rooted in the land. Gugile Nkwinti, who was minister of rural affairs and land reform until Monday evening (now minister of water affairs), said: "The ANC unequivocally supports the principle of land expropriation without compensation."
Advocates of land expropriation say that this is an important step in redressing past injustices and redistributing the means of production to those who were dispossessed in the past.
Mcebo Dlalmini says: With Democrat Zuma gone, the time is ripe for land expropriation
South Africa has seen more than three heads of state in its 24 years as a democratic country but the conditions of the people have not changed substantially. Although some strides have been made the hierarchies that existed during apartheid and former president Thabo Mbeki's tenure have not been altered. There's still this group of whites that continue to hold all the wealth while the black majority of the country continues to languish in poverty.
This requires us to think critically about what ought to be done to ensure that this brutal reality is changed. The state of affairs invites us to think about the problem is structural and not necessarily as an incident of the structure.
Malema issued a "warning shot" to the DA.
"Every land in South Africa should be expropriated without compensation and it will be under the state. The state should be the custodian of the land," he explained.
"No one is going to lose his or her house, no one is going to lose his or her flat, no one is going to lose his or her factory or industry. At least for now." He said. "All [that] we are saying is they will not have the ownership of the land. It belongs to the state."
Transforming economy
"The ANC in Parliament appreciates the need to take bold steps that will transform our economy including land ownership and reform.
"This resolution therefore heralded a new era of intensified land distribution to address the long-standing national grievance of African people around land dispossession," read a statement from the office of the ANC chief whip.
"We look forward to the outcome of the Constitutional Review processes on the modalities of expropriation of land without compensation. As the ANC in Parliament, we will closely monitor this process."
The ANC Women's League said it was excited, "irrespective of which political party tabled the motion, for the benefit of the landless masses who were displaced by the unjust laws of colonialism and apartheid".