Parliament will oppose a court application by Afrikaner rights group AfriForum to have the report of the joint constitutional review committee on amending section 25 of the constitution set aside.
The group, which has accused parliament of failing to follow due process, has indicated that it has ordered its legal team to prepare for legal action to stop the process of amending the property clause to allow for expropriation without compensation.
Earlier this week, the lobby group and COPE, which also opposes the proposed amendment, delivered a joint memorandum to the US embassy requesting the Trump administration to put pressure on the SA government to “protect the constitution, property rights and the 1994 settlement”.
Last week, parliament’s joint constitutional review committee formally resolved to recommend that the property section of the constitution be changed to make it explicit that expropriation without compensation is one of the means that can be used to address the skewed land ownership patterns dating back to the colonial and apartheid eras.
The committee ignored objections from opposition parties, business organisations and some academics, who have argued that the change would discourage investment without dealing with the real causes of the slow implementation of land redistribution, almost a 25 years after SA’s first democratic elections.
Other parties in parliament including the DA, Freedom Front Plus, and the IFP, have also indicated that they may launch a court bid. They also argue that the committee’s work was characterised by several procedural flaws.
In the main, they question the manner in which written submissions were handled, and the fact that former president Kgalema Motlanthe’s high level panel report was largely ignored. In November 2017, Motlanthe tabled a review of key legislation in parliament. His panel proposed that, instead of amending the constitution, the government should use its expropriation powers more boldly, in ways that test the provisions in section 25(3), particularly in relation to unutilised or underutilised land.
On Wednesday, parliament spokesperson Moloto Mothapo said the legislature would oppose AfriForum’s court bid.
“The adoption of this [joint constitutional review committee] report followed an extensive series of public hearings from June 26 to August 4,” said Mothapo.
He highlighted that thousands of South Africans participated in the public hearings.
“They came to join the national conversation about land and its role in building our democracy and redressing the wounds of our past. The committee also held workshops and discussions at Parliament. The committee will present its report to both houses of parliament. MPs will engage in further debate at these sessions in which the report is considered,” said Mothapo.
“The inquiry which the constitutional review committee undertook will be remembered as one of the most consultative, participatory processes of our democracy, outside of our regular nonracial elections,” he said.
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