3 minute read
1 Aug 2019
01:34 pm
MPs and senior parliamentary staff packed the courtroom in which Afriforum challenged the adoption of a report by parliament’s constitutional review committee recommending section 25 of the Constitution be amended to explicitly allow for land expropriation without compensation, 29 November 2018. The challenge was ultimately unsuccessful. Photo: Chantall Presence / ANA
The DA has written to parliamentary Speaker Thandi Modise to express the view that a “stark warning” given by the Presidential Advisory Panel on Land in a recently released report was being ignored.
The report, which was released on Monday, can be read here.
The DA’s advocate Glynnis Breytenbach has highlighted a part of the report, on page 72, which she interpreted as showing that amending section 25 of the constitution to allow for expropriation without compensation would not only be “unconstitutional” but also “unnecessary”.
“Without a constitutional amendment to section 25, the state is currently able and within its powers to expropriate land for land reform purposes, based on just and equitable compensation,” the report says.
“If, however, the purpose of the amendment is to implement expropriation without compensation wholescale and without conditions, then such a motion would offend section 1 of the constitution and would in effect, collapse the core underlying values of our constitution.”
“It is clear that the constitution includes legitimate mechanisms for land redistribution, including expropriation without compensation, based on just and equitable compensation,” said the DA in a statement.
READ MORE: Land reform panel report raises red flags for agriculture – Agri SA
“We believe that the amendment of the constitution would be a move that will condemn our economy to inevitable collapse.”
The party said it was committed to land reform but said the constitution was not currently a barrier to this.
“The DA is unequivocal in its support of a legal and constitutionally outlined processes for land reform. The constitution is not a barrier to land reform. The barriers to land reform have been and continue to be corruption, constrained budgets and a lack of political will. Amending the constitution is nothing more than an attempt by the ANC to hide its failures in land redistribution and reform,” the statement alleges.
“The DA believes that the courts must have more opportunities to determine what is just and equitable in terms of compensation. This will ensure that the vast corruption which has characterised land reform over the last 25 years, will be eradicated.
“The DA requests as a matter of urgency that these facts be discussed thoroughly by the Ad Hoc Committee,” the statement concludes.
(Compiled by Daniel Friedman)
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