The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) has passed the Expropriation Bill with seven provinces voting in favour. The Western Cape is the only province to vote against it, while the NCOP has not received a final mandate from the North West to vote on the Bill.
The Bill seeks to repeal the 1975 Expropriation Act. One of the objectives of the Bill is to expropriate land and property in the interest of the public.
The Bill was brought before the NCOP for final approval. During declarations by political parties, the African National Congress (ANC)’s Mandla Rayi gives the Bill the thumbs up.
“The ANC supports the Expropriation Bill as it is geared towards the transformation of the country. The Bill is a section 76 Bill. It was passed in the National Assembly and required the concurrence of the National Council of Provinces. The Bill will certainly benefit the people and development in the provinces.
“The legislation repeals the Apartheid Act of 1975. This Bill is based on the Constitution and ethos of Democratic South Africa. The bill is based on the due process of law and conforms with section 25 of the constitution,” Rayi explains.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) delegate from the Western Cape in the NCOP, Cathlene Labuschagne, criticises the ANC over the Expropriation Bill.
“This Bill represents the ANC’s desperate attempt to broaden state authority over property ownership by framing it as a land reform instrument, to mask its land restitution failures. The passing of the Land Rights Act in 1994 followed by the adoption of 1996, made it clear that land should be restored to the dispossessed. The failing ANC Government set itself an ambitious programme to restore 30% of the land, instead 30 years later due to incompetence and corruption, most land claims have not been settled and very little land has been redistributed,”
After declarations by political parties, voting by provinces commenced. NCOP Deputy Chairperson, Sylvia Lucas, reads the outcome of the votes.
“The voting is now closed. Seven provinces voted in favour. I therefore declare the Bill agreed to according to Section 65 of the Constitution.”
The Bill will now be sent to President Cyril Ramaphosa to sign it into law.
Meanwhile, the President who was in the National Assembly answering oral questions at the same time, faced questions about land reform.
He told the National Assembly that government’s land reform programme has now reached 25%. The President was asked by Freedom Front Plus MP, Tamarin Breedt, what he would do to ensure food security through land reform. This was part of his response.
“House Chair, yes there have been other weaknesses that have also resulted in some failures in some of the land reform initiatives. When the ANC-led government started with the process of restoring the tenure of Black people to land, we set a target of 30 % by 2023. We are now at 25%. The very outstanding economist Wandile Sehlobo who is one of the leading Agri Black economists has said that if we continue on this rate, by 2030, we would have exceeded the 30% that we set for ourselves.”
