Cape Town - If the National Assembly adopts a report recommending the Constitution be amended to explicitly allow for land expropriation without compensation on Tuesday, the Democratic Alliance (DA) will start legal proceedings to challenge the constitutionality of the move, the opposition party said.
"Should the ANC and EFF vote to adopt this flawed report in both the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces, the DA will not hesitate to approach the courts," DA MP Glynnis Breytenbach said during a media briefing just hours before the report by the Constitutional Review Committee was tabled for debate and a vote in the House.
The DA said it had highlighted flaws in the process leading up to the adoption of the report in various parliamentary fora, and believed it had exhausted all internal remedies and can thus approach the courts for relief.
"The ANC and EFF were dogged in their determination to ignore the over 80% of written submissions which opposed the amendment of Section 25 during the public participation process," said Breytenbach.
"The written submissions report has not been finalised, yet the ANC and EFF approved the final report. This is proof that the process was merely a smokescreen for what was ultimately a predetermined outcome."