Parliament - The African National Congress (ANC) caucus on Friday announced it has deployed eight of its MPs to serve on an ad hoc committee to draft a constitutional amendment explicitly allowing for land expropriation without compensation.
ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu said Thoko Didiza, Vincent Smith, Stanford Maila, Rosina Semenya, Lindiwe Maseko and Phumzile Mnguni will serve on the ad hoc committee as voting members, while Phumzile Ngwenya-Mabila and Nono Maloyi would represent the ruling party as non-voting members.
The National Assembly approved the establishment of the committee on Thursday following a bitter debate in the House. The ANC, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), African People's Convention (APC), National Freedom Party (NFP), and United Democratic Movement (UDM) were in favour of a constitutional amendment, while the Democratic Alliance (DA), Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), Congress of the People (Cope), Freedom Front Plus (FF+) and African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) opposed the move.
The ANC wants the amendment effected before next year's general election.
Mthembu described the events of the week leading up to the setting up of the ad hoc committee as "the most historic development since the advent of our parliamentary democracy".
"Through this amendment, Section 25 of the Constitution will make explicit that which is implicit in the Constitution, with regards to Expropriation of Land without Compensation, as a legitimate option for Land Reform, so as to address the historical wrongs caused by the arbitrary dispossession of land."