Opposition scuttles land reform bid

EFF votes with DA and other parties to defeat the governing party’s objectives

THE ANC has warned it would use other legislative measures to address the land reform programme after its bid for expropriation of land without compensation failed in Parliament yesterday.

The lack of support from the EFF ensured that the ANC was unable to get the required two-thirds majority.

The ANC needed 267 MPs to back the bill to allow for the expropriation of land without compensation. However, only 204 MPs supported the Bill, with 145 from the opposition benches rejecting it.

DA MP Annelie Lotriet said the bill would have had a serious impact on the economy.

“Today’s outcome was a culmination of three wasted years in which Parliament was made to process a bill where alarms had been raised about its grave impact on the economy, the rule of law and food security.

The ANC knew about these dangers, hence their steadfast refusal to allow for an economic impact assessment to be conducted,” Lotriet said.

EFF leader Julius Malema said the ANC failed to come to the party on the bill.

He said they had always maintained that the state should be the custodian of all land to address this issue.

Malema accused the ANC of rejecting all the EFF’s proposals on the expropriation of land without compensation.

“We submitted section 25 subsection 2 of the Constitution that the Constitution must be amended to explicitly state the land must be expropriated without compensation.

“We also submitted section 25 subsection 3, which provides for compensation for expropriation should be removed completely and be replaced with a provision allowing for state custodianship of the land.

“We also submitted that the section that provides for land restitution must be removed in order for the country to focus on the redistribution land programme, not one with the limited scope as land restitution is currently. All these submissions were rejected by the ruling party,” Malema said.

ANC MP Mathole Motshekga said the opposition parties were in an unholy alliance against the ANC.

He said this was the same method they had used in the local government elections.

Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Ronald Lamola said the ANC was on the right side of history with its land reform programme.

He said the party would use other laws to ramp-up land reform in the country. Parliament is finalising the Expropriation Bill.

There were also other bills in the pipeline, Lamola said.

He also accused the EFF of being in bed with the DA and Freedom Front Plus by voting against the ANC on the bill to allow for expropriation of land without compensation.

The EFF has been calling for the state to be the custodian of all land, but the ANC had opposed this view.