Foundation’s spectre of land anarchy

A presentation by the FW De Klerk Foundation to a parliamentary committee tasked with investigating whether the constitution should be changed to allow for the expropriation of land without compensation sparked tense exchanges between members of parliament yesterday.

The foundation’s Theuns Eloff told parliament’s constitutional review committee that they acknowledged that the “status quo” on land ownership was not ideal, but they were opposed to amending section 25 of the country‘s constitution.

Eloff said the foundation believed the failures in land reform were not as a result of the constitution not being explicit about expropriating land without compensation, but was due to government incapacity and corruption.

According to Eloff’s written submission, the expropriation of land without compensation could have dire political and social consequences and could harm the economy and race relations. “If the accelerated land reform programme includes amending section 25 in such a way that expropriation without compensation becomes a reality, it could lead to wide-scale socio-economic unrest, widespread land grabs and unlawful occupation of any land regardless of who the owners are,” the submission read.

“Taken the ineffectiveness and lack of capacity and number of Saps [South African Police Service] members into account, the possibility of land owners taking the law into their own hands is very real. This could lead to a serious deterioration in race relations, bloodshed and anarchy.

Parliamentarians did not appear convinced, with the ANC’s Vincent Smith arguing that if there was no change to land ownership patterns “there is a greater risk of political unrest”.

Economic Freedom Fighters’ MP Tebogo Mokwele branded Eloff and his delegation part of the “mob of 1652”, referring to the start of white colonial expansion and land dispossession in South Africa.

“They claim to advocate peace and unity, but how are we going to have peace in South Africa when the most vulnerable communities, which happen to be black, can’t access land?” he asked. “In your presentation you did mention that there will be war ... you are cautioning us that it’s something you are busy preparing for. You are preparing your people for war. I’ve got proof of that.“

Other opposition party MPs objected, taking Mokwele to task for what they called divisive comments. One MP claimed Mokwele was “abusing the platform for narrow political ends” and committee co-chairperson Lewis Nzimande ruled that Mokwele was out of order.

Yesterday was the last day to make oral submissions in parliament to the constitutional review committee.