The committee has been dealing with the question of land expropriation for some time now, and it was meant to conclude a while ago but Covid-19 delayed its work
MEMBERS of the ad hoc committee on land expropriation are set to finalise the bill on amendments to the Constitution to allow for the expropriation of land without compensation by March.
The chairperson of the committee, Mathole Motshekga, said that following discussions on the reports received, MPs will now go back to their respective parties for a position on land expropriation.
He said there were different positions taken by members of the committee during the meeting on Friday.
“According to the report, specific proposals that emanated from the public participation process regarding the text of the amendment bill include that the acceleration of the pace of land redistribution is vitally important and this was agreed to by almost all the speakers. However, there were differences of opinion on the modalities, especially when expropriation of land without compensation was proposed,” said Motshekga.
“The inclusion of nil compensation in the text was another subject of disagreement. While some argued for unambiguous expropriation with no room for compensation, others felt that there are instances where expropriation might have to consider individual property rights secured through private investment in land,” he said.
“According to the report, there was agreement in the public input around a need to speed up development of all legislation required in terms of Section 25. Furthermore, it was suggested that there was a need for clarity about how the nil compensation will be determined.
“The role of courts in the process of expropriation was also a subject for discussion. Those in favour of expropriation without compensation believed that it should be an executive action, and the judiciary could adjudicate when called upon to do so.”
MPs would now go back to their parties for the position they would take in discussing the matter..
The committee has been dealing with the question of land expropriation for some time now, and it was meant to conclude a while ago but Covid-19 delayed its work.
At the time, it still had to conduct public hearings in some of the provinces.
It managed to finish this work late last year.
The ANC has said it wants the matter to be finalised soon.
