Legislation: Expropriation Bill officially withdrawn

The 2015 Expropriation Bill was officially rejected by the National Assembly on Tuesday, according to a document released yesterday by Parliament. It is to be redrafted to make provision for land expropriation without compensation and will be reintroduced ‘upon the conclusion of the … (Constitutional Review Committee) process’. This was confirmed in a media statement issued by the office of the ANC’s Chief Whip, Jackson Mthembu – among other things expressing confidence that the Bill’s withdrawal and reintroduction ‘will align all necessary legislative processes’ needing to be undertaken by Parliament to implement the ‘important resolution’ adopted last year at the ruling party’s 54th national conference. This, notes Pam Saxby for Legalbrief Policy Watch, as SA enters a technical recession apparently triggered by the release of Statistics SA data showing a 0,7% decline in the country’s GDP growth rate during the second quarter of 2018 – and a ‘revised 2.6% contraction in the first quarter’ (CNBC Africa).

Last week, the Banking Association of SA warned that ‘amending section 25 (of the Constitution) … has the potential to undermine all property rights’ – representing ‘a risk to every home owner, business owner and investor in the country’. ‘Insecure property rights retard investment and economic development, which SA needs to deal with the challenges of unemployment, inequality and poverty,’ the association said in a media statement confirming that it ‘does not support a change to section 25’, which ‘already … (provides) for expropriation without compensation’. As Legalbrief Today has already reported, according to Public Works Deputy Minister Jeremy Cronin, ‘either way’ government will need to send a clear ‘signal’ to people ‘genuinely worried’ about the possibility of ‘Zimbabwe-style’ land grabs that the expropriation of land without compensation will only occur under ‘specific conditions’ rendering the use of such a measure ‘just and equitable’ – in keeping with section 36(1) of the Constitution. He made these remarks during a meeting of the National Assembly’s Public Works Committee last week, when the Expropriation Bill’s withdrawal was considered and approved.