700000 submissions on land expropriation

PARLIAMENT’S joint constitutional review committee on expropriation of land without compensation is procuring a service provider to assist with analysing the over 700000 submissions received, and if the author of a submission cannot be identified it will not be accepted as a legitimate submission, Parliament said yesterday.

Earlier this year, the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces resolved to mandate the committee to review section 25 of the constitution on the right of property ownership, Parliament’s spokesperson Moloto Mothapo said.

The committee called for written public submissions and by the closing date for written submissions, June 15, the committee had received more than 700000 electronic and hard copy submission forms from the public, he said.

“Due to the extraordinarily huge volume of submissions and the importance of ensuring that every submission is given deserved consideration by Parliament, the committee is in the process of augmenting its internal capacity by procuring a service provider to assist with analysing the submissions.

“One of the requirements for the service provider will be that a receipt of submissions is acknowledged mainly through emails, SMSes, and any other way possible.

“Proof of this will be kept for further reference. The committee resolved that only clearly identifiable submissions that can be traced back to a name, cellphone number, or email address will be considered,” Mothapo said.

A final draft of the report was expected to be submitted by August 3, by which date the committee would have concluded its public hearings in the provinces and be heading back to Parliament.

The public hearings were scheduled to begin this week in Limpopo and the Northern Cape on tomorrow and Wednesday.

The hearings should be “regarded as an opportunity to build a more just and equitable South Africa in which we must make full and effective use of the resources at our disposal”, Mothapo said. - African News Agency (ANA),

‘THE COMMITTEE IS AUGMENTING ITS INTERNAL CAPACITY TO ASSIST WITH THE SUBMISSIONS’

PICTURE: ANCLIMPOPO BIG WIGS: ANC spokesperson Pule Made, President Cyril Ramaphosa and ANC secretary general Ace Magashule at the party’s Limpopo elective conference. Provincial chairperson Stanley Mathabatha retained the post uncontested as the conference proceeded successfully despite attempts to block it.