Opposition warns of land-grab chaos
Opposition parties have warned that the expropriation without compensation policy will have a devastating effect on the economy and food security.
Opposition parties have warned that the expropriation without compensation policy will have a devastating impact on the economy and food security.
In his maiden state of the nation address on Friday, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the government would push for expropriation without compensation to ensure that the land was returned to those from whom it was taken under colonialism and apartheid.
The ANC agreed at its conference in December to push for amendments to the Constitution that will pave the way for the government to expropriate land without compensation — a move that observers say will most likely spook investors.
In the debate on Monday on the state of the nation address, DA leader Mmusi Maimane said this would create a lot of uncertainty in agriculture. “We absolutely cannot have [a thriving agricultural sector] if farmers do not know if or when their land will be taken from them without any compensation,” said Maimane. Such expropriation was incompatible with a growing, flourishing economy.
Congress of the People leader Mosiuoa Lekota said expropriation without compensation was patently unconstitutional.
Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Groenewald said “simply adopting the principle … will already have an adverse effect on the economy and food security. The FF Plus rejects … [this] because it applies to all property, whether it is a farm or in a town or city.
“It’ll have a detrimental effect on the economy and it will deter potential investors. ”
The EFF, which has long called for expropriation without compensation and for its supporters to occupy land, previously offered the ANC its 6% representation in Parliament, which would give it the required two-thirds majority threshold to amend section 25 of the Constitution, or the property clause.
EFF leader Julius Malema warned the DA that its stance against this would compromise the two parties’ co-operation agreements in various metros.
"I want to warn him [Maimane] that your stay in the metros is going to depend on your attitude on the expropriation of land without compensation.… That is the fundamental issue which is going to make us fight with you because anybody who is [against this] is the enemy of our people,” said Malema.