Nothing new with presidential panel’s findings on land: ANC decided to expropriate long ago already 

29 July 2019

The report issued by the presidential panel on land expropriation without compensation in South Africa is a sham and a waste of taxpayers' money seeing as the ANC had made the decision to implement expropriation long ago already.

The ANC also made no secret of its intent. At the end of July last year, the ANC said via President Cyril Ramaphosa that the process to amend the Constitution had already commenced and that nothing will stop it. Last week Thursday, another motion was adopted in Parliament that furthers the process to amend Section 25 of the Constitution so as to make provision for expropriation without compensation.

The FF Plus wants to re-emphasise that amending the Constitution and adopting the principle of expropriation without compensation will destroy the country's economy. It will put South Africa on a one-way track headed straight for disaster, like Zimbabwe.

It is deceptive of the ANC to say that the process must be guided by an expropriations act. There are already rumours regarding the amendment bill on expropriation, for example, that land that is kept only for speculation purposes may be expropriated without compensation.

The only positive recommendation that the presidential panel made is that a thorough land audit must be done in order to determine who owns how much land in South Africa. The FF Plus has been requesting such an audit for years seeing as the ANC narrative that white people own more than 80% of the land is an untruth used for political purposes. This lie can only be refuted by means of an accurate land audit.

It must be kept in mind that the Constitution can indeed only be amended by a two-thirds majority, but once that is done, an ordinary law regarding the matter can be promulgated with a mere 50% plus one majority.

What will the future hold for South Africa if it gets another president who wants to nationalise land? Then a two-thirds majority is not needed, just an ordinary majority.

The presidential panel's report merely serves to confirm the already existing intention of the ANC to expropriate land without compensation and that is totally unacceptable for the FF Plus.

Issued by Pieter Groenewald, FF Plus leader, 28 July 2019