The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) is planning on taking legal action against the Constitution Eighteenth Amendment Bill citing that it would among other things, result in economic suicide for the country.
The amendment of Section 25 of the Constitution entails that where land and any improvements thereon are expropriated for the purposes of land reform, the amount of compensation payable may be nil.
At a media briefing held in Richmond on 11 December, Head of Policy Research at IRR Dr Anthea Jeffery said that the Expropriation Without Compensation Bill goes beyond ad hoc committee’s mandate to ‘make explicit what is implicit’ in Section 25. She said the legislative process was not in keeping with Section 74 of the Constitution, particularly where the mooted change undermines the rule of law.
“There are various other constitutional shortcomings too. Property rights have to be protected. The Bill is going to affect farmers and would result in a loss of confidence in property rights. It would be economic suicide as it would scare investors and skills to help the country develop.”
Jeffery said that in South Africa there were 8.5 million black, coloured and Indian homeowners, 1.1 million white, 18 million black people with customary law plots and 6.1 million hectares bought by black people since 1991 for about R70 billion including 4.4 million hectares of rural land.
“Under the Expropriation Without Compensation Bill and Expropriation Bill, for example, all of them could face expropriation by bankrupt municipalities, already owed R165.5 billion. Expropriation without compensation will empower the state and not disadvantaged black South Africans. The state will keep ownership or custodianship. It is evident from the State Land Lease and Disposal Policy of 2013,” added Jeffery.
Furthermore, Jeffery added that about 70 per cent of transferred land has fallen out of production and jobs were lost. She said most South Africans wanted jobs and not land, growth and not redistribution. “Few favour expropriation without compensation, especially not if it could affect their own land and homes. Those who want to farm, despite all the challenges of drought, disease and crime, must be helped to do so. Government hasn’t provided a know-how and many people don’t have experience in farming. They also can’t get funding and depend on the state. Another thing is that the government should offer individual title deeds as opposed to communal title deeds which doesn’t offer much freedom in utilising the land.”
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https://northeasterntribune.co.za/232248/final-insights-voter-preferences-revealed-institute-race-relations-2/
