DA hands in 94 000 submissions opposing Section 25 amendment

DA interim leader John Steenhuisen. File picture: Tracey Adams/African News Agency (ANA) .

DA interim leader John Steenhuisen. File picture: Tracey Adams/African News Agency (ANA) .

Published Feb 28, 2020

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PARLIAMENT - The Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Friday it was submitting 94,000 public submissions on the draft bill to amend section 25 of the constitution to make express provision for land expropriation without compensation.

DA caucus chairperson Annelie Lotriet said all the submissions were opposed to the constitutional amendment and would each count as an individual submission.

"They all have names on them. They were submitted on our portal for us to submit," she said.

Lotriet said the submissions were testimony to the widespread opposition among South Africans of all walks of live to the measure.

The DA is also submitting its own objection to the bill, which argues that it is an attempt to dissimulate the government's failure, through corruption and lack of political will, to bring about meaningful land reform since the end of apartheid.

The real obstacles to land reform could therefore be removed without recourse to a constitutional amendment, the party said.

The failure of land reform over the past 24 years has been linked to the lack of action by government to ensure justice was served and land ownership patterns were addressed. 

"This explains why the government has enthusiastically embraced the ill thought-out amendment to section 25 – it provides perfect cover to avoid having to explain its rank failure over two decades to take land reform seriously. "

The deadline for public submissions on the bill is Saturday.

The DA said it urged all South Africans to use the remaining time to submit public comments.

The bill is highly contentious for fear that it will erode property rights and scare off investors. 

President Cyril Ramaphosa signalled in his state of the nation address earlier this month that the governing ANC remained committed to seeing its adoption.

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African News Agency 

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