Land reform on the table with local farmers
The Shadow Minister for Rural Development and Land Reform, Thandeka Mbabama held an informative meeting with farmers and the community of Mokopane last Tuesday evening on land reform.
MOKOPANE – Mbabama said that on 27 February the National Assembly set in motion a process to amend the Constitution so as to allow for the expropriation of land without compensation (ELWC).
“The motion brought by the EFF Commandor-and-Chief Julius Malema, was adopted with a vote of 241 in support and 83 against. The DA did not support this motion and the matter was referred to the Constitutional Review Committee to deliberate on ELWC.
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“This means that those who voted for the motion want the government to be able to confiscate or seize anyone’s land away from them without agreement and without paying them for it.”
According to Mbabama, the property clause in the Constitution, Section 25, does not distinguish between different forms of property.
“If the government change the Constitution, Section 25 it will apply to all property, whether it be farmland, commercial farmland, communal land, urban residential land, property or land owned by businesses. It also relates to any form of asset, like your vehicle, shares and it doesn’t provide blanket protection of property rights (private property).
“It does say that deprivation of property should be done in a manner that is ‘just and equitable’. Rather than amend the Constitution, the HLP report recommends government should use its expropriation powers more boldly, in ways that test the meaning of the compensation provisions in Section 25 (3).
“The government particularly need to look into land that is unused and underutilized. The compensation amount and the time and manner of payment must be just and equitable, reflecting an equitable balance between the public interest and the interests of those affected, having regard to all relevant circumstances.”
Mbabama said the DA is striving to create One South Africa for all, founded on the values of freedom, fairness and opportunity.
“We are vehemently opposed to the expropriation of land without compensation and tampering with the Constitution. The DA supports rapidly expanding ownership to people who’ve been denied land through our painful history of dispossession. Property ownership, is the way we will get South Africans to share in and grow our economy and all this must be implemented through the prescripts of the Constitution as it stands.”
According to Mbabama the DA fundamentally disagrees with the ANC position to expropriate land without compensation. “The current EFF policy shared by the ANC, is that the state should be custodian of all land and the ANC and EFF’s intention to turn black South African into permanent tenants of state with all the patronage and corruption that comes with this, is patronizing and insulting. This is not empowerment, but enslavement. The DA believes that government must work to protect the rights of individuals, while the ANC contends that government is a custodian of individuals’ agency.
“The DA will distribute the 1 000’s of government owned farms and fallow land, instead of treating emerging farmers as permanent tenants. We will allocate adequate budgets to settle all remaining land restitution claims, and for land reform purposes, on the basis of the Constitutional guidelines for compensation. Anyone who wants to farm will receive the support they need to be successful, through the transference of skills and by providing access to the resources and markets they need to sell their goods.
“All of this is attainable without amending the Constitution Urban land reform. The DA will make state land available for urban densification and joint venture partnerships between established and emerging farmers, aimed at matching new farmers with access to land with skilled and experienced agri-business practitioners.”
Mbabama said South Africans want to launch businesses and/or work land that they could own for subsistence/commercial farming.
“They do not want to have to rely on the discretion of the state for their property rights.
The DA’s goal is to give land to the people, and not to the government. The Constitution does not need to be changed to realise this, we need to change the government,” Mbabama concluded the meeting.
redaksie.bosvelder@nmgroup.co.za
