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President Cyril Ramaphosa has called upon the sixth Parliament to finalise the Expropriation Bill which will define under which circumstances land will be expropriated without compensation.
Ramaphosa was responding to Tuesday’s debate on last week’s state of the nation address. The president had come under fire from some quarters for making no mention of amending Section 25 of the Constitution. The response seemed prompted by fears that he had abandoned the land question.
The fifth Parliament had undergone a rigorous consultation process resulting in the formation of an ad hoc committee, which looked into the process to amend Section 25 of the Constitution to explicitly allow for land to be expropriated without compensation. It is now up to the sixth Parliament to re-introduce the work of that ad hoc committee and to continue with the process.
“We will soon release the report of the Presidential Advisory Panel on Land Reform and Agriculture.
“This report will inform the finalisation of a comprehensive, far-reaching and transformative land reform programme. Among the important tasks of this new Parliament is to finalise constitutional amendments to clearly indicate how expropriating land without compensation will be put into effect,” the Ramaphosa said.
Read: Ramaphosa to investors: We will expropriate land, but fear not, we have a plan
The amendment of the Constitution and in this case the Bill of Rights will require a two-thirds majority which the EFF and the ANC collectively have. The two parties are, however, at logger heads as to what conditions expropriation may take place. The EFF want all land to be nationalised and owned by the state.
Ramaphosa emphasised that this would not be the case as he called for the finalisation of the Expropriation Bill. The bill which was published for comment in December last year states that land held for speculative purposes, abandoned buildings and owned by absent landlords would all possibly be considered for expropriation.
“Parliament will also need to debate and finalise the Expropriation Bill, which deals with the modalities and the circumstances in which expropriation will take place.
“Expropriation is as an important land acquisition strategy. It is important because it enables us to conduct land reform in a pro-active and planned manner. This frees us from a wait-and-see approach dependent on market sales. Expropriation without compensation, in defined circumstances, allows us to do so at a cost that is reasonable for the South African people. But we must not lose sight that it is but one instrument in a much broader toolbox to achieve agrarian reform and spatial justice.”
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