The Democratic Alliance (DA) wants Parliament’s Ethics Committee to give the Economic Freedom Fighters’ (EFF) Chief Whip, Floyd Shivambu, the highest sanction for his remarks on land expropriation.
The call comes after Shivambu warned that people will embark on an extrajudicial process of land reform if politicians continue to fail to address the land question. He made the threat in the Ad Hoc Committee meeting on Friday.
Shivambu had expressed his unhappiness with the new draft 18th Constitutional Amendment Bill in its current form and its re-publication for public comment.
DA MP Annelie Lotriet, who is a member of the Ad Hoc Committee to Expropriate Land without Compensation, says the DA will submit a complaint against Shivambu.
“The DA strongly condemns Floyd Shivambu’s threat to use extrajudicial methods to forcefully expropriate land without compensation. This is not only reckless but is also dangerous as it borders on incitement to commit violence and undermine South Africa’s constitutional order. We will be submitting an official complaint to the Parliament Ethics Committee,” says Lotriet.
Ad hoc committee on land expropriation without compensation deliberates on report:
Lotriet says the DA will request that the committee issue the highest possible sanction against Shivambu for his remarks, which she says, undermine the rule of law and places the lives of South Africans at risk.
The Freedom Front Plus and the chairperson of the committee, Dr Mathole Motshekga, on Friday also cautioned Shivambu against his comments, saying they are contrary to the MPs’ oath of office.
Revised bill published
Meanwhile, Parliament has published for public comment the revised bill aimed at amending the Constitution to provide for expropriation of land without compensation. The purpose of the revised Constitution 18th Amendment Bill is to amend section 25 of the Constitution, which deals with property rights so as to provide that where land is expropriated for land reform – the amount of compensation payable may be nil.
The Freedom Front Plus is also not happy with the bill in it’s current form.
However, Dr Motshekga says the draft Bill is not cast in stone and might be fine-tuned further, taking public comments into account.
The public has until August 13 to submit their comments.
Parliament extends deadline on land expropriation constitutional amendment:
