Limpopo to host land talks
Members of the Parliament's Constitutional Review Committee, which is looking into amending Section 25 of the Constitution to allow expropriation of land without compensation, will visit the province next week to hold public hearing meetings on the subject.
LIMPOPO – The public hearing meetings will be held in Groblersdal at the Elias Motsoaledi Local Municipality on Wednesday, in Mokopane at the Mogalakwena Local Municipality on Thursday, in Giyani at the Greater Giyani Local Municipality on Friday, and in Thohoyandou at the Thulamela Local Municipality on Saturday.
The public hearing meetings are part of a national public participation process kick starts on 26 June to 4 August to get the views of all stakeholders about the necessity for expropriating land without compensation and what mechanisms they would like to see for the implementation of land reform.
The public participation process comes after the committee was instructed by the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces to review Section 25 of the Constitution and other clauses where necessary to make it possible for the state to expropriate land in the public interest without compensation.
The public hearing comes after the due date for written submissions and requests for oral representations was set for 15 June.
The Chairperson of the Constitutional Review Committee, Vincent Smith, said more than 900 000 written submissions and requests for oral representations have been received by email, mail or through information discs.
After the public hearings, there will be one final phase for oral submissions in Parliament from 7 to 17 August and presenters will be invited, based on the submissions received.
A date for a colloquium with experts, academics, policy makers, faith-based groups, the South African Local Government Association and many others is also in the pipeline. The public participation process follows a motion passed by the National Assembly in February this year to consider reviewing Section 25 of the Constitution to enable land expropriation without compensation.
