EFF land restitution move

THE EFF say they might be willing to assist Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti should he be genuine about amending the constitution to effect land restitution without compensation.

This follows Nkwinti’s speech at last week’s post-State of the Nation address debate, where he said that for government to achieve its goal of radical socio-economic transformation regarding land reform, it would “undertake a pre-colonial audit of land ownership, use and occupation patterns.

“Once the audit has been completed, a single law should be developed to address the issue of land restitution without compensation. The necessary constitutional amendments should be undertaken to effect this process.”

According to constitutional law Professor Pierre de Vos, bar section 1 of the constitution which deals with South Africa’s founding values, a two-thirds majority from members of the National Assembly is required to make amendments to the constitution.

Section 25 of the constitution relates to property rights, and stipulates that the government can only expropriate land subject to providing just and equitable compensation.

The ANC has a 62.2% share of members in the National Assembly, while the EFF has 6.2%.

EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu told The Mercury’s sister paper, The Star, that his organisation’s offer to give its 6.2% share to the ANC for the constitution to be amended on this issue still stands, as land restitution without compensation is an integral part of the EFF’s founding policies.

“We will not compromise on our principles regarding land for anything. So if the ANC approaches us to ask for our share of the vote to amend the constitution, we will be willing to listen and assist if needs be,” Shivambu said.

However, he emphasised that he didn’t believe Nkwinti was serious, adding the ANC always tried to “sound radical” around this time of the year.

“They do this every year during Sona because they know people are watching. They will say the same thing again next year,” Shivambu said.

But lobby group AfriBusiness has taken the minister’s statements seriously and has strongly opposed them – threatening court action should Nkwinti follow through.

“If there is anything we see that does not work with the vision of section 25 of the constitution, we will definitely go to court,” said Armand Greyling, law and policy analyst at AfriBusiness.

Greyling added that government’s more radical approach to land reform was due to pressure from the EFF, saying the government was willing to jeopardise the economy for political gain.

“On the one hand government says they are for job creation, but they also want to push the political agenda on land reform and redistribution. If you are going to start infringing on private property ownership, then people will start withdrawing domestic and foreign investment, which means the jobs you want to start to create for the public will not be created,” Greyling said.

Nkwinti acknowledged the economic and constitutional implications, adding that structural changes such as the proposed constitutional amendments were important steps towards what he called a “constitutional revolution” for government to achieve radical economic transformation.

ANC KwaZulu-Natal chairman Sihle Zikalala said although it was important that the transformation of land to black people was high on the agenda, it would be proper for the EFF to engage on the matter with the ANC leadership at a national level.

“The return of the land to black people is important. The issue of the relationship between the organisations can’t be based on only one issue, but it should be based on proper and principled discussion. If the EFF had that issue, it would be better that it engage with the ANC nationally,” said Zikalala.

Meanwhile, senior professor at the University of the Western Cape’s Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, Ben Cousins, said the government’s land reform policies over the past 15 years had been incoherent and had benefited a small group at the expense of the poor.

In a paper he published last year, Cousins wrote that land reform had been “captured” by “emerging black capitalist farmers (often with non-farm incomes), traditional leaders, large-scale white commercial farmers and agribusiness corporates, who are all benefiting more than the poor”.

Cousins said he believed the government should re-evaluate its current land reform policy framework to urgently put it on course as a pro-poor, poverty-reducing programme with job creation potential.

“Firstly, we need to put into the centre of the programme securing people’s land rights; whether they are farm workers, labour tenants or rural area residents.

“Secondly, we need to put in place that land must be transferred to potentially productive smallholder farmers – not commercial farmers but smallholder farmers,” he said. – Additional reporting Bongani Hans