Will of the constitution needs to prevail in land question

THERE are so many questions in our independent South Africa. The land question is just but one of the questions. Land in South Africa, is it a question without an answer, as some would like us to believe? In dealing with it, let us pose yet another question: has orderly manner of dealing with the land reform failed? Put it differently, is section 25 of the constitution an enabler in the country’s quest for land reform?

Land is not only an emotional issue, but is a conflictual one as well. Our situation is compounded by the hor- rendous history that the country had. We waged a just war to the past that was wretched, dreadful and pitiable, and we triumphed. Scars of that war are not just visible, but are still painful. This then explains why we become hot under the collar when the issue of land is mentioned.

The constitution of a democratic South Africa got enacted in 1996. It was never going to miss addressing the issue of land dispossession. Section 25 of this constitution warns in section 1, no one may be deprived of property except in terms of law of general application, and no law may permit arbitrary deprivation of property.

What that means is that what happened in the past was wrong and should never be repeated by the democratic government. Sub-section 5 of this section 25 orders that the state must take reasonable legislative and other measures with its available resources.

Section 25 clearly asserts that property must be expropriated. Expropriation must be for public purpose and in the public interest. This means expropriation must take place with an aim of reconstructing a country that was destroyed, amongst others, by gruesome laws. There are six requirements listed by section 25 that must be adhered to in the process of expropriation, among those are the current use of the property, the history of the acquisition and the use of the property. History of acquisition probes how the land in question was obtained.

Development and empowerment strive in a stable environment, section 25 attempts to ensure conducive conditions for rebuilding our country. Our constitution states that compensation should be just and equitable, that means it can even be a bottle of still water, where the former owner must just drink it and chill.

If anything, we must demand government to implement section 25 as speedily as possible for social infrastructure and for land reform. If we do anything else, we will be solving a problem by a problem. Thando Wababa Bellville