Parliament warned against amending Section 25 of Constitution

File picture: Mathole Motshekga/Reuters

File picture: Mathole Motshekga/Reuters

Published Mar 24, 2021

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Cape Town - Parliament was warned on Tuesday about pushing ahead with the amendment of the Constitution to allow for the expropriation of land without compensation.

This happened when the ad hoc committee on amending Section 25 held a virtual meeting to receive oral presentations from interest groups.

The committee was granted an extension until May 31 after it could not complete its work in March.

Briefing the committee, Afribusiness CEO Piet le Roux said market economies did not exist in a vacuum.

Le Roux said expropriation of land without compensation would be incompatible with constitutionalism.

He charged the implementation of expropriation of land without compensation would be to treat people as if they were criminal.

“This distraction and treating compensation as asset forfeiture is at odds with the Constitution,” Le Roux said, adding that expropriation should be accompanied by payment of an amount as a consolation of expropriation.

He insisted that the state’s power should be accompanied by an obligation of payment of the market value for the loss of property.

Le Roux warned that pushing ahead with expropriation without compensation would trigger the de-legitimisation of the constitutional order.

“We will be obligated to set in motion and sustain a campaign to remedy the unconstitutionality of the South African Constitution and restore constitutionality.

“It would be incumbent on constitutionally-minded people to put effort to restore constitutionalism. While ethically and morally necessary, it will lead to tensions between various communities because actions in defence of constitutionalism would be made suspect and attacked on racial terms,” Le Roux said.

EFF MP Floyd Shivambu raised concern that they were being threatened and that there would be no acceptance of majority rule.

Cosatu’s parliamentary counsellor Matthew Parks said they supported the 18 amendments of the constitution wholeheartedly.

“It is correct and is long overdue,” he said.

Parks also said South Africa was one of the most unequal nations in the world.

He said urban dwellers were condemned to informal areas and backyard dwellers while rural residents and farm workers were denied land to till.

“We don’t need to be philosophical in our engagements. We simply need to look next door (Zimbabwe) and avoid consequences of not dealing with land reform.”

Parks said there was no way the state could be held to ransom with exorbitant compensation demands and nil-compensation should be considered as people dispossessed in Sophiatown, District Six and rural areas were never compensated when forcefully removed.

He argued that the state could not run away from advancing land reform.

Committee chairperson Mathole Motshekga said South Africa has opted for a negotiated settlement to avoid the imposition of the will of the majority on minorities.

“We do allow public participation with due regard to constitutional regard laid down by the Constitutional Court. We should agree that a peaceful resolution of challenges facing us is better than armed conflict.

This process is to avoid any conflict – armed or otherwise,” Motshekga said.

In their joint presentation, the South African Real Estate Association (SAREIT) and South African Property Owners Association (SAPOA) said Section 25 already provided for awarding just and equitable compensation and in appropriate cases the amount could be a nil figure.

SAREIT chairperson Estienne de Klerk said changing the constitution could bring all sorts of other consequences.

De Klerk backed the amendment of Expropriation Act, which is before Parliament.

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Political Bureau

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