Parliament - The country was being held hostage by private property owners who were holding up land expropriation in the public interest so they could make profits, deputy public works minister Jeremy Cronin told MPs on Tuesday.
Speaking during public hearings on the Expropriation Bill, which is aimed at amending the 1975 by providing a administratively fair and just process to expropriate land in the public interest, Cronin said Eskom was one example of how delays to important projects was costing the country’s economy.
“There’s been a timidity and an uncertainty about what is required in terms of meeting constitutional approval... and so Eskom… in this particular case has been held hostage basically and therefore it’s not Eskom… it’s the country that is being held and public resources and a public purpose putting in electricity that are being held hostage…,” Cronin said.
“The delay issue – private property owners, for speculative reasons, try to introduced extensive delays and to try to hold the public sector, acting in the public interest, for the public purpose, hostage in this process and we must really not allow that to happen.”
Cronin was speaking after Eskom briefed MPs on the problems they had with expropriating land, and the delays they were having in getting important projects off the ground.
Eskom general manager of Real Estate, Mmamaloko Seabe, said various projects to lay transmission lines had been delayed, which had a negative effect on the work of the parastatal.
“We are unable to connect with big industries or businesses in an expedient manner and as a result that affects economic growth and social development,” Seabe said.
She said it was often one or two land owners which held up the process because they expected more compensation than the market value of the land sort “in the public interest”.
She said Eskom was often forced to “give in” to the demands of the land owners as delaying projects could often cost more in terms of money, jobs and skills.
Some projects were delayed by as much as six years.
“During that period, we had already contracted suppliers and those suppliers could not conduct that project during the six year period [costing jobs].”
ANA