720 000 comments on land grab proposal submitted

MORE than 720 000 comments were received on land expropriation without compensation by Parliament this week, said co-chairperson of the Constitutional Review Committee, Vincent Smith.

He believes that the final count could reach 1 million. “It’s unprecedented that a committee receives so many comments but that just emphasises the fact that this a very emotive subject. This is far beyond what I expected,” Smith said yesterday.

He said the committee had not been tracking the comments in real time and that back-room staff would start counting the submissions on Monday.

“In terms of how many are for and how many are against ( land expropriation), that will become clearer at a later stage. But you can gather from one or two organisations that the media has been talking about.

“I suppose the Freedom Front Plus ( comments) are anti-land expropriation.”

He said the party had submitted 101 000 signatures and AfriForum over 55 000 signatures. Cope indicated it would deliver 248 000 petitions before yesterday’s 5pm deadline.

The SA Institute of Race Relations submitted 55 000 comments yesterday morning.

Smith added that there was a WhatsApp group which collected 63 000 endorsements. He said whatever the outcome, it would be a close result.

“I can’t say that with authority because we have not analysed the comments yet,” Smith said.

From August 7 to 17, the committee will invite authors of the comments to supplement their submissions by way of oral presentation in Parliament. From August 26, after poring over the comments, it will conduct provincial visits.

The committee’s deadline is September 28. Asked whether residents from rural and township areas had made enough submissions, Smith said: “They were aware of the process, but I don’t think they made enough submissions and that’s purely because they don’t have the means. “I would be surprised if they made even a third of the comments.”

Smith warned some submissions could be duplicated. Asked how the review committee would deal with this, he said it would be discussed in the next committee meeting on June 21.