An ANC proposal to amend the constitution to explicitly allow the seizure of land without compensation has failed to secure enough MP votes, potentially ending one of the governing party’s biggest policy reforms, which has soured sentiment in boardrooms and raised political stakes.
The proposal, framed as part of wider efforts to tackle yawning land disparities in the country, needed a two-thirds majority necessary to pass an amendment to the constitution. The ANC has 230 seats in parliament and required at least 267 votes to pass the bill. Of the MPs present in the house and on the virtual platform, 145 members voted against the bill, with 204 members supporting the proposed amendment.
Some have argued the proposal was a populist move by the governing party to counteract the rise of the EFF, the biggest champion of land expropriation without compensation. Others have said it would have removed ambiguity in section 25 of the constitution.
But the uncertainty over property rights has been one of the central factors behind the sluggish economy. Data showed on Tuesday the economy contracted by 1.5% on a quarterly basis as civil unrest in July and tougher lockdown restrictions during the pandemic’s third wave weighed on output.
While the outcome of the vote in the National Assembly has prompted some ANC leaders to say the party could still revive the idea, it seems unlikely to come back in the current format based on the ANC’s downward spiral in elections and the small electoral support for the EFF. If local government election results are replicated in the 2024 general election or in later years, the ANC would not get enough seats in the National Assembly to push it through even with the EFF’s support.
The ANC was banking on the EFF’s support to reach the two-thirds threshold. The red berets have 44 seats in the 400-member parliament, making it the third-largest party. The DA is the second largest with 84 seats.
The ANC and EFF differed fundamentally on the issue of state custodianship of land, and compensation. The EFF maintains the amendment should categorically state that all land be placed under state custodianship without compensation.
Mathole Motshekga, an ANC MP, suggested that the opposition parties were ganging up on the ANC in the hope of gaining an upper hand in an “unholy alliance” ahead of the 2024 general elections.
“We are not worried and confident that with or without them, the ANC will make land available to the people ... without making land available to people, the triple challenge of unemployment, poverty, inequality will continue,” he said.
EFF leader Julius Malema said the ANC is concerned with “maintaining the status quo and the interests of white land owners”. He said: “We have tried to reason with the ANC, and it’s clear to us that they are not interested in advancing the rights of the landless.”
DA MP Annelie Lotriet said the ANC’s failure to muster the two-thirds majority is a victory for SA’s constitutional order.
She said the DA has long argued against the need to amend section 25 of the constitution because, in its current form, it already has enough provisions to enable a just and equitable land reform process.
The EFF argues that the state should be the “custodian” of all land, which means it will hold the land on behalf of all people. While this could be seen as a form of nationalisation, the party contends that under custodianship the state will not be able to change user rights as and when it pleases “because it will not own the land fully”.
The ANC opposes any form of nationalisation and wants to give tenure to locals. Broadly, the governing party supports mixed land ownership: private, state and communal tenure.
The Banking Association SA, which represents a sector with R1.6-trillion in property loans, previously warned the bill would destabilise the banking sector and potentially lead to private sector lenders withdrawing from providing loans in which land-based property is offered as security.
Update: December 7 2021
This story has been updated with details of the debate.
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