Retired Constitutional court judge, Albi Sachs, says Section 25 (8) of the Constitution, dealing with land, is still subject to Section 36, which makes provision for limitation of the Bill of Rights.
Sachs was answering questions from Members of Parliament (MPs) on the Joint Constitutional Review Committee during a discussion on expropriation of land without compensation being held in Parliament.
Section 25 (8) makes provision for the State not to be impeded from making legislation, or taking other measures to achieve land, water and related reforms to ensure redress due to past racial discrimination.
Sach says the clause cannot operate in isolation from the limitations imposed by Section 36.
“Section 36 I think is important for South Africa. If you give people carte blanche to seize property, the temptations are always there. Its very very dangerous, so you need controls. You do need criteria… And the criteria must be such as to benefit those most dispossessed. Not benefits those who are the richest as we get in other countries we lived in… Some of them gave us enormous support, but leaders went on to emulate, in ways that would be incompatible with our general constitution.”
