EFF complains parliament has published the Land Expropriation Amendment Bill without ‘publicity’

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has expressed unhappiness over parliament publishing the bill for the amendment of the Constitution to allow for expropriation of land without compensation, without “adequate publicity” or a public announcement, and “worse, just before Christmas”.

The party has called on South Africans to share the bill “far and wide”, as citizens have sixty days to give public comment on it.

“The principle is simple, the Constitution must be amended to include [an] explicit clause that land must be expropriated, without compensation.

“We invite all progressive peoples, movements, organisations and formations to send comments in support of the expropriation of land without compensation.

“This is the historic victory we all need as a country for true total decolonisation to occur,” the statement concludes.

South Africans can have their say on the proposed Bill here.

It was reported on December 10 that after months of behind-the-scenes preparation, the parliamentary ad hoc committee on the amendment to section 25 of the constitution had come up with a draft Bill to allow for the insertion of land expropriation without compensation.

However, there are still many hurdles before the constitution is altered to accommodate the change.

The committee will now take written submissions until January 31, a deadline Agri SA called to be extended for three months, a call rejected by the committee.

Opposition political parties, like the Democratic Alliance and the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) continue to voice their objections to the Bill.

Following parliament’s voting in favour of proceeding with the changes to section 25 of the constitution in December 2018, constitutional law expert Professor Shadrack Gutto said he believed the whole constitutional reform process was a waste of time and money while expropriation of land for public good was already provided for in the constitution.

The professor said there was no need to amend section 25 of the constitution. Gutto said there was a lot of room for the expropriation of land for the purposes of reform in the public interest and purpose, saying he could not understand the run-around.

Gutto said: “I think there is a problem. We seem to be going around in circles instead of assessing where we have gone wrong. Why are we throwing money into a big hole for expropriation of land? I think there is a lot of debate that needs to happen but it is critical that we do not waste people’s time and raise their temperatures by politicising the land question when we can actually move forward.”

[ALERT]: Draft Land Expropriation Amendment Bill Has Been Published Without Adequate Publicity By Parliament. pic.twitter.com/4shWUMT7n1

— Economic Freedom Fighters (@EFFSouthAfrica) December 31, 2019

(Compiled by Daniel Friedman. Background reporting, Eric Naki and Chisom Jenniffer Okoye)

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