AfriForum today submitted comments to parliament rejecting expropriation without compensation in its entirety. AfriForum rejects the constitutional amendment which seeks to allow for expropriation of all types of property without compensation. The civil rights organisation also submitted the names of roughly 47 000 people who are also opposed to the bill.
The South African Constitution already allows land reform and a restitution process has been in place for decades to address land claims by those dispossessed in the past. This legitimate process has however been derailed by corruption, cadre deployment and mismanagement. Furthermore, of all the land that the government has acquired since the start of the land reform process, only around 6% has been transferred to private ownership. This proves that a lack of willing sellers is not the issue. The issue is a lack of government’s desire to redistribute the land it has acquired.
“What is extremely concerning is the fact that the committee appears to have completely ignored the previous public comments on the matter of amending the Constitution. The vast majority of comments were opposed to the Constitution being amended, yet the ANC continued to pursue this destructive amendment. The ANC clearly does not care what citizens have to say and are too blinded by their greed and desire to start handing out more free land to themselves and fellow cadres. Expropriation without compensation is immoral theft and AfriForum will continue to fight it,” says Jacques Broodryk, Campaigns Manager at AfriForum.