Legislation: Constitution Bill introduction deadline extended

The ad hoc committee appointed in July 2019 to initiate and introduce legislation amending section 25 of the Constitution to provide explicitly for expropriation without compensation as one measure for accelerating land reform has been granted until 29 May 2020 to complete its work. This is noting that – as Legalbrief Today has regularly reported – the amendments are not likely to spell out the specific circumstances in which land and landed property may be legitimately expropriated without compensation. As a result, the draft Constitution 18th Amendment Bill released in December 2019 for comment and now being subjected to nationwide public hearings simply proposes a legal framework for expropriation without compensation for land reform purposes, notes Pam Saxby for Legalbrief Policy Watch. President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed last month in his State of the Nation Address that the details will be left to a revised Expropriation Bill – which ‘government stands ready … to table’ ‘following the completion of the parliamentary process to amend section 25 of the Constitution’.

The order paper circulated on Wednesday for yesterday afternoon’s National Assembly sitting proposed 30 May as the new deadline for tabling the necessary Bill in Parliament. However, the version posted on Parliament’s website reflects the date since carried unopposed. It is quite possible that, with 29 May falling on a Sunday, the Bill will be tabled on or before 27 May in anticipation of being considered and adopted by the House on Tuesday 31 May. At this stage, however, no plenary has been scheduled for that day.

Recent committee media statements on the public hearings tend to suggest that many participants do not understand the process, as Legalbrief Today has also reported. Against that backdrop, it might be helpful if the Government Communication Information System website and any others regularly visited by ordinary South Africans would feature a summary of the process thus far, which has unfolded as follows:

February 2018: Parliament establishes a joint constitutional review committee to ‘investigate possible amendments to Section 25 of the Constitution’ to provide explicitly for land expropriation without compensation, and to hold nationwide public hearings on the need for/desirability of such amendments.
December 2018: Informed by the outcome of these hearings, the National Assembly agrees that section 25 of the Constitution should be amended ‘to make expropriation of land without compensation more explicit’.
December 2018: An ad hoc committee is established by the National Assembly ‘to initiate and introduce legislation – before the end of the fifth Parliament – to amend section 25 of the Constitution so that (the) expropriation of land without compensation is made explicit, as a legitimate option for land reform’.
March 2019: The committee concedes that it will not be able to fulfil its mandate before South Africa’s 5th democratic Parliament rises for May’s general elections.
July 2019: South Africa’s 6th democratic Parliament establishes a new ad hoc committee mandated to introduce the necessary legislation by 31 March 2020.
December 2019: The committee invites members of the public to comment by 31 January 2020 on a draft Constitution 18th Amendment Bill.
December 2019: the draft Bill is gazetted.
January 2020: The committee extends its deadline for written submissions on the draft Bill to 29 February.
February 2020: In his State of the Nation Address, President Cyril Ramaphosa confirms that a revised Expropriation Bill (to be tabled in Parliament once the committee has completed its work) will prescribe ‘the circumstances under which expropriation of land without compensation would be permissible’.
February 2020: Provincial public hearings on the draft 18th Constitution Amendment Bill begin.
March 2020: The provincial public hearings continue.
March 2020: The committee finalises its schedule for the remaining public hearings.
March 2020: The deadline for introducing the Constitution 18th Amendment Bill is extended to 29 May 2020.

Since the Constitution 18th Amendment Bill will likely focus on the legal framework for expropriation without compensation – leaving the details to the revised Expropriation Bill – it might also be helpful for the same websites to explain how the process of developing the Expropriation Bill unfolded.

March 2013: A draft Expropriation Bill is gazetted for comment.
February 2015: The Expropriation Bill is tabled in Parliament.
May 2016: The Bill’s ‘D’ version is passed by Parliament and sent to the President (then Jacob Zuma) for signature.
February 2017: The President sends the Bill back to Parliament, citing concerns about the consultation and public participation process.
July 2018: President Cyril Ramaphosa announces the ANC’s national executive committee decision to introduce expropriation without compensation as one measure for accelerating land reform (TimesLIVE).
September 2018: The Expropriation Bill is withdrawn from Parliament.
December 2018: A draft revised Expropriation Bill is gazetted for public comment.
December 2019: A media statement on Cabinet’s final meeting for the year announces that the draft Bill has been further revised and will be released for another round of public comment.
February 2020: In his State of the Nation Address, President Cyril Ramaphosa announces that ‘government stands ready’ to table the Expropriation Bill in Parliament once the committee has completed its work.