Land grabs to go ahead – ANC

ANC leaders have agreed that expropriation of land without compensation should go ahead as recommended by the party’s land summit, although there is no clear modality on how it would be carried out, secretary-general Ace Magashule said yesterday.

Traditional leaders would be consulted, Magashule said after the party’s national executive committee (NEC) ordinary meeting. “The NEC adopted a comprehensive approach for a parliamentary review of section 25 of the constitution, and the immediate use of section 25 to press ahead with expropriation of land to test the argument that the constitution does permit expropriation of land without compensation... should it be found that the section 25 impedes implementation of expropriation without compensation, then the constitution will be amended and immediately pass expropriation bill to bring better clarity,” he said.

The ANC’s land summit held last weekend agreed that it was time to implement the ANC December conference resolution on land redistribution.

The party heard from experts, NGOs and those involved in daily farming as it seeks ways to redistribute land equitably. The land summit outcomes were only just recommendations until ratified by the NEC.

Delegates also called for farm evictions to stop immediately and that the 22 000 land claims by farm dwellers be settled at once.

Magashule said over 200 000 written submissions have been made to Parliament’s constitutional review committee ahead of public hearings set to begin simultaneously in Limpopo and Northern Cape next month. – ANA

Over 200 000 written submissions have been made to constitutional review committee ahead of hearings.