'South Africans prefer money over land,' said Mbeki

Former South African President Thabo Mbeki, has taken issue with black South Africans' attitude towards land.

Mr Mbeki says, unlike their fellow Africans, records show that land claimants who have won cases prefer to take the money, instead of working the land.

"If you look at the record of the land claims that have been settled over the last 22 years, 20 years whatever, you will find that in the majority of cases, the people who win the claim - they prefer to take the money, rather than to keep the land, to work the land. That's the reality of South Africa.

"The Zimbabweans have a very very different attitude towards land from what our people have. So I wasn't at all surprise to read the story that in Malmsbury in the Western Cape, you've got 5 Zimbabweans - all of them are university graduates in mathematics, in physics, in sciences. They're teaching at schools there and they do the farming over weekends," he said.

"I've got R10 in my pocket - that's the only money I have - I can bet anybody that produce for me one black South African graduate in maths, who's farming? This is the objective reality of our country,"  he added.

The former statesman was speaking in Pretoria on Sunday, during the 20th anniversary celebrations of the adoption of South Africa's constitution.

Mbeki also told government leaders not to lie to themselves about issues affecting the country.

His comments come on the back of the recent Constitutional Court Nkandla judgment which found that President Jacob Zuma had failed to respect, defend and uphold the South Africa constitution.