ANC resolves to amend constitutional policy governing land expropriation

THE ANC national conference last night resolved to mandate the incoming NEC to initiate a process to amend Section 25 of the SA constitution to allow land expropriation without compensation.

This was announced by chairman of the Economic Transformation Commission following what he described as “rowdy engagements that almost collapsed the conference”.

However, he said the land will be expropriated without compensation provided it is sustainable. The conference also resolved that traditional leaders should relinquish custodianship of the land.

The land in question – mostly rural – is the final destination of millions of black people as a result of the legislated dispossession of their land by the apartheid regime.

“That land belongs to the people and we resolved that 13% of the land under the custodianship of traditional leaders be transferred to the people who live in those communities‚” said Obed Bapela‚ the Deputy Minister of Traditional Affairs and a member of the ANC’s subcommittee on legislature and governance.

Bapela, speaking to reporters late yesterday at the party’s national conference at Nasrec, said he did not anticipate any problems with transferring the communal land to the relevant communities because it was held in trust by the government and was merely under custodianship of traditional leaders.

In addition‚ the land was already registered in the name of the various communities living on it.

Bapela said the process would pave the way for significant rural development since much of that rural land was not in use. The party also resolved that the review of municipal boundaries‚ or demarcation‚ be conducted on a “on a 10-year cycle” because, according to Bapela, the current five-year arrangement “disrupts settlements and affects how people experience services”.