‘ANC should have supported EFF land vote’

Party bigwigs at odds over MPs’ stance

THE land-reform debate has exposed cracks in the ANC, revealing confusion on the party’s policy on expropriation without compensation.

While ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu insisted expropriation of land without compensation was not policy, ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa told the Sunday Times this principle was adopted by the party at the 2012 conference in Mangaung.

Kodwa said ANC MPs, under Mthembu’s leadership, should have supported an EFF motion introduced on Tuesday for the amendment of section 25 of the constitution to allow for expropriation without compensation.

Section 25 of the constitution protects private property rights and says land can only be expropriated subject to compensation agreed to by the affected parties and subject to a decision or approval by a court of law.

Kodwa said ANC MPs should have tabled a counter-motion that would not have differed with the EFF’s motion in principle, rather than opting for outright rejection.

“In principle we should have used that opportunity. The point is that there would have been nothing wrong to say we present an alternative motion. Or we could have said the EFF motion is in line with our thinking and articulation of land restitution and then speak to our positions.

“The ANC must never, in its articulations, particularly in parliament, use numbers to engage . . . thinking that we’re the majority anyway, we’ll outvote you . . . we must engage on supremacy of ideas.”

But Mthembu defended ANC MPs, saying the decision not to vote with the EFF on the matter was correct as the motion was not in line with ANC policy.

“What would you have said if we went there and changed ANC policy as deployees, prompted by an EFF motion?” he said.

“If we did that outside of an ANC policy, prompted by an EFF motion, we changed that and came up with the resolution that we must amend the constitution to effect expropriation without compensation? Everybody would have been correct to call for our recall.”

The chief whip said people were free to challenge section 25 in court. “If it obstructs redress, by all means [change it], but have we tested it in court? The constitution is a living document,” said Mthembu.

Kodwa’s statement echoed that of President Jacob Zuma, who told the National House of Traditional Leaders on Friday that “black political parties” needed to work together to secure the two-thirds majority required to change the constitution to allow for land expropriation without compensation.

The ANC resolution Kodwa was referring to calls for “expropriation without compensation of land acquired through unlawful means or used for illegal purposes having due regard for section 25 of the constitution”.

The radical approach to land restitution appears to be gaining popularity within the party and indications are that senior party leaders — including Zuma — will push for it at the party’s policy conference in June.

Senior ANC MP Mathole Motshekga, who is chairman of the justice and constitutional development portfolio committee, said it would soon be dealing with the constitutionality of the expropriation bill.

Mthembu had support from Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom, who took to Twitter to say expropriation without compensation was not ANC policy.

Land reform expert Ben Cousins said the ANC’s newfound appetite to expropriate land without compensation was merely aimed at reviving the party’s political fortunes.

“It’s in the context of the waning legitimacy of the ANC under Zuma, particularly given the whole state capture controversy. They’re trying to portray themselves as in favour of radical economic transformation and cut the ground from under the feet of the EFF,” he said.

They’re trying to . . . cut the ground from under the EFF