ANC defends support for constitution review
‘NEC is going to deliberate on the outcomes of the land summit’
THE ANC has defended its support for the review of the constitution to help advance the expropriation of land without compensation, saying it was in line with constitutionalism.
The governing party held a summit at the weekend with experts on land and law, and activists who worked on land, as part of giving clearer meaning on the modalities of its resolution of land expropriation without compensation.
The summit recommended that section 25 of the constitution be immediately tested in its current form, while the current parliamentary constitutional review process to amend the section is supported.
ANC NEC member Ronald Lamola said yesterday the party’s support for the review and amendment of the constitution was not aimed at attacking it but enhancing its transformative capacity.
He said the constitutional review process would end ambiguity and bring greater clarity to section 25(2)b of the constitution in relation to expropriation and land reform.
“If it is found the current legal formulation, including the constitution and any other law, impede or slow down effective land redistribution in order to ensure the realisation of the principle of expropriation without compensation, it must be amended to bring that clarity,” Lamola said.
The ANC’s national executive committee is meeting this weekend, where it is expected to deliberate and formally endorse the recommendations of the party’s land summit.
The ruling party has been accused of betraying its historical values of constitutionalism by those opposed to expropriation of land without compensation, including by the DA – a claim rejected by Lamola, delegated the party’s spokesperson on land reform.
“The ANC approaches this discussion on section 25 and constitutionalism informed by its historical position that the ANC is an architect of the constitutional democracy and our own constitutional democratic order.
“The ANC will always therefore defend the constitution as a transformative document and views the constitution as a mandate for transformation, and if we believe that there is anything that might impede transformation, we must enhance the constitution,” Lamola said.
He said the immediate use of section 25 to press ahead with expropriating land would test the argument that the constitution in its current form permitted expropriation without compensation in certain circumstances.
ANC head of economic transformation Enoch Godongwana admitted that the party had been mistakenly backing a market-led land reform programme since taking over government, adding that the programme was not in line with the principles of the current constitution.
President Cyril Ramaphosa described the land summit as a landmark occasion which gave full expression to the ANC’s resolution of expropriating land.
“So we are now moving forward as the ANC to our NEC.
“The NEC is going to deliberate on the outcomes of the land summit, where after we will be able to outline more fully and clearly the proposals that have come from the workshop that we had,” he said.