In a move to strike a deal with the EFF to amend the property clause of the constitution, the ANC on Friday proposed that state custodianship be applicable to “certain land” within the context of expropriation.
But the EFF immediately rejected the proposal, saying that nothing short of full state custodianship, which would amount to nationalisation, would be acceptable. The party also remains at odds with the ANC over the inclusion of compensation in the clause.
This means the change to the constitution could stall as the two parties continue to differ as the deadline to table a report to the National Assembly by the end of August looms. Both parties need one another to pass the amendment, which requires a two-thirds majority.
The next step is a meeting between the top leadership of the ANC and the EFF on Wednesday, said Floyd Shivambu, the deputy leader of the EFF.
The parties would then have to decide whether they could find common ground or not.
The amendment, which has spooked investors, is meant to make it clear that expropriation of land without compensation can be permitted under the constitution.
The EFF, the third-largest party in parliament, insists that all land be under state custodianship and no compensation to landowners be paid.
On the other hand, the ANC has all along favoured mixed land ownership: private, state and communal tenure.
During a meeting of parliament’s ad hoc committee tasked with amending section 25 of the constitution on Friday, the ANC presented its slightly tweaked amendment saying: “The state must take reasonable legislative and other measures, within its available resources, to foster conditions which enable state custodianship of certain land in order for citizens to gain access to land on an equitable basis.’’
ANC MP and member of the ad hoc committee Cyril Xaba told Business Day on Sunday the party proposed that the state retain ownership of all land until it is redistributed to beneficiaries. “So our position is still markedly different from the EFF, which wants all land to be nationalised,” Xaba said.
President Cyril Ramaphosa told journalists earlier in June that the ANC’s approach has always been to give tenure to South Africans.
“The hunger for land has always been about tenure. The notion that we have had a blanket approach, that we will own all the land [from land reform] may be impeding the entrepreneurial spirit. Our people want to own the land and hold the title,” Ramaphosa said.
The leasehold system that has been used for most land reform beneficiaries over the past decade is widely regarded as a failure because it prevents people from using their land as collateral to raise loans.
On Friday, Shivambu said the party will not support any amendment that does not support nil compensation or “anything that says custodianship is only for certain land.
“We have realised that the engagement with committee members has not been very useful because the majority of time they are not decisionmakers in the ANC, they still have to consult at a different level ... so we have been in engagement with the top five of the ANC with the latest developments to then say ‘let’s sit down and discuss’ and if that discussion does not bear fruit, we will just have to agree that we do not have the common perspective in terms of amendment of section 25.”
DA MP Annelie Lotriet said that Friday’s proposal from the ANC was evidence that it was actually warming up to the EFF view on custodianship.
Fig leaf
“President Cyril Ramaphosa misled the country when he said that the ANC will not support the EFF’s proposal to make the state custodian of all land as this would ‘kill entrepreneurial spirit’," Lotriet said.
Ruth Hall from the University of the Western Cape’s Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, said given that the ANC is not willing to support expropriation without compensation across the board, or nationalisation, the “state custodianship of certain land” is the compromise offer on the table. “It could be
the fig leaf needed to paper over the real political differences between the two. But in reality, and on the ground, it will likely satisfy nobody.”
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.