Cape Argus

Call for constituen­t voices on expropriat­ion

- SIYABONGA MKHWANAZI

MEMBERS of the Constituti­onal Review Committee want people who want to make oral presentati­ons on the expropriat­ion of land without compensati­on to have constituen­cies.

They said yesterday they did not want people with no constituen­cies to make oral submission­s in the national legislatur­e. The committee is to conduct another round of public hearings in Parliament on the matter.

However, members of Parliament (MPs) were at odds on who to invite to make oral presentati­ons following written submission­s.

Out of the list of individual­s and organisati­ons who were keen to make oral presentati­ons, MPs said they wanted people with constituen­cies to appear before them.

Nick Koornhof of the ANC, said they needed to conclude the process soon, and were giving people another opportunit­y to state their cases.

“I remember the last time we said we will invite people with constituen­cies and not individual­s.

“We also said there will be no political parties, as they are represente­d in Parliament,” said Koornhof.

Co-chairperso­n of the committee Lewis Nzimande said they tried to accommodat­e people with constituen­cies on the list of people to present in Parliament.

However, Nzimande warned that they would not allow people and organisati­ons which presented in the previous round of public hearings to come to the committee again.

He said they wanted fresh faces that would argue their cases to the committee.

“Those who have been given an opportunit­y in the previous hearings in Parliament, we will not consider them,” said Nzimande.

The committee decided to turn down a request by the PAC to present to the committee.

Nzimande said the PAC, like 12 other parties in Parliament, was represente­d in the National Assembly.

He said it did not make sense to give the PAC an opportunit­y to present to the committee when it had a seat in the national legislatur­e.

A few months ago the committee took a decision, that they would not allow parties to make any submission on the land expropriat­ion matter, as they were already represente­d in the House.

Nzimande said political parties could come to the committee at any time to make their contributi­ons.

The committee is in a race against time to conclude its report on the expropriat­ion of land without compensati­on. The committee is expected to hear oral submission­s in the next two weeks. MPs had to trim the list of those to make oral submission­s from 120 to less than 35.

The committee has set aside two days for the public hearings, and after that, it will prepare a report to be submitted in the House.

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