Time soon up for public submissions on land expropriation bill

“It is therefore critical that South Africans participate in the draft Constitution amendment bill. Let’s make our voices heard

TIME is ticking for members of the public who have until the end of this month to make written submissions on changing Section 25 of South Africa’s Constitution.

The deadline for submissions to Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee to Initiate and Introduce Legislation Amending Section 25 of the Constitution is January 31.

The long-awaited measure, the Draft Constitution Eighteenth Amendment Bill, which aims to change the Constitution to allow for the expropriation of land, was gazetted last month.

Public participation is necessary to ensure a fair representation of different voices as the country forges ahead in changing this section of the Constitution.

It is important to not forget our civic duty.

All key stakeholders, and South Africans in general, should commit time to review the draft bill.

Further, they should prepare to engage with the parliamentary process before the closing deadline for public commentary on the draft bill.

The ownership of land in South Africa can be a vital source of capital that opens personal credit markets.

Ownership can also lead to investment in land, provide a social safety net when necessary, and promote the transfer of wealth to the next generation.

Beyond the potential for a higher income, secure access to land provides a valuable safety net as a source of shelter, food and income in times of hardship.

A family’s land can also be a last resort in the event of disaster.

Moreover, South Africans’ access to land affects a broad range of fundamental human rights.

Individuals in both urban and rural areas rely on the availability of adequate plots of land for shelter and resources.

In rural areas particularly, the realisation of the right to food is intimately tied to the availability of land on which to grow crops.

Land is the main asset from which the rural poor are able to derive a livelihood.

Millions of families, though they toil on the land, do not enjoy ownership rights over it, and are considered landless.

Landlessness threatens a number of fundamental human rights.

Access to land is important when it comes to development and poverty reduction, but also often necessary for access to numerous economic, social and cultural rights.

Such access also serves as a gateway to many civil and political rights.

It is therefore critical that South Africans participate in the draft bill. Let’s make our voices heard.

Since 1994, there have been only 17 amendment bills proposing changes to the Constitution.

This is the first time that South Africa’s young democracy has to deal with an amendment to a right in the Bill of Rights.

It is therefore vital to ensure meaningful public participation.

The amendment bill essentially proposes the following:

A change to section 25(2) of the Constitution to provide that in accordance with a new subsection 3A, “a court may, where land and any improvements thereon are expropriated for the purposes of land reform, determine that the amount of compensation is nil”.

The new subsection 25(3A) provides that “national legislation must, subject to subsections (2) and (3), set out specific circumstances where a court may determine that the amount of compensation is nil”.

In a nutshell, the proposed amendment provides that a court may determine that in certain specific circumstances, which have to be provided for in ordinary legislation, it will be just and equitable in terms of section 25(3) of the Constitution that the amount of compensation for expropriation of land and any improvements thereon for land reform be nil. TSHEPO DIALE | Nkwe Estate, Pretoria