Have your say on proposed constitutional changes
Various methods are making it easier than ever to have your say on developments in parliament. For instance, the land debate and questions about changes to the constitution need your input. Here's how to have your say before time runs out.
An amendment to the constitution is currently being debated in parliament. If it is signed into law, this will be the first amendment to the Bill of Rights.
The amendment seeks to change the wording of Section 25 of South Africa’s constitution to allow for the expropriation of land without compensation.
Towards the end of February this year, the land reform debate was put back on the table in parliament when the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) called for expropriation of land without compensation.
This is a hotly contested topic. Any decision will be historical, so it makes sense that South Africans exercise their right to participate in the discussion.
Where do things stand?
Although the Constitution already allows for land expropriation – without compensation – if it is “just and equitable”. However, Vincent Smith, chair of the Parliamentary Committee reviewing Section 25 of the Constitution, which deals with property, has invited the public to participate in the debate, through a series of hearings and by engaging with the committee.
In an interview with the Parliamentary Monitoring Group (PMG) last week, Smith said the committee wants all South Africans “to feel free to come and give their views and to be tolerant enough to allow those who have different views, to air their views”.
He also emphasised that there is no “pre-cooked decision in parliament” and that everyone involved is asked to approach the hearings as open-minded as possible.
Section 25 – often called the “property clause” – as well as other clauses to make it possible for the state to expropriate land in the public interest, without compensation, are the focus of the committee.
Taking into account what ordinary South Africans, policy-makers, civil society organisations and academics have to say about the issue, the committee will then make recommendations to Parliament, in the form of constitutional amendments. They have been given a deadline of 30 August 2018 by which to do all of this.
What is proposed?
The amendment proposed by the EFF seeks to remove the part that reads “subject to compensation” in the wording of Section 25.
According to Prof Ruth Hall, of the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) a specialist unit in the School of Government, Economic and Management Sciences Faculty at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), the most notable aspect of the debate is the fact that despite there being provisions for land expropriation as explained above, government has failed to ever develop a land reform policy that considers “just and equitable compensation” from any standpoint other than the “willing buyer, willing seller” principle.
What property is affected?
At the moment the property clause applies to all forms of property, including commercial farmland, residential homes, informal land rights and property other than land (stocks and bonds, pensions and intellectual property, for instance).
Whether expropriation without compensation will cover all of these will have to be addressed by the Committee in the process of the debate and the recommendations that follow.
To amend the Constitution, two-thirds of the National Assembly must vote for a proposed amendment and, in the National Council of Provinces, and six of the nine provinces must be for the proposed amendment. This means effectively 267 of the National Assembly’s members must vote for the proposed amendment.
The African National Congress currently has 249 MPs, the Democratic Alliance has 89 and the EFF, 25.
Public hearings
In addition to having your say via an online portal, there will be public hearings in various centres around the country between the 27 June to 4 August 2018. The hearings scheduled for Durban are set to take place on 20 July, 2018, at the Ethekwini Metro Council.
Online portal
Even if you can’t attend a hearing you can still participate via the online portal to have your say at the Dear South Africa initiative in partnership with the Thuli Madonsela Foundation. The deadline for submitting your vote via the website is midnight 15 June 2018.
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