There will be no land free-for-all, ANC says

South Africans will not wake up to “a free-for-all” after the amendment of section 25 of the constitution allowing government to expropriate land without compensation, the ANC said yesterday.

Ronald Lamola, member of the ANC national executive committee (NEC) and tasked with matters of land reform, said it was a “myth” that land would become freely available in South Africa.

“It is not true that you will wake up tomorrow and all land which will be in the hands of the state will be available for free to everyone,” said Lamola. “It does not mean all South Africans will wake up and have land.

“There will still be a need for legislation as to how we’re going to distribute land … it doesn’t mean that everyone will walk into free land … it is not free,” he told the media in Johannesburg following the governing party’s two-day lekgotla in Irene, Pretoria.

Lamola said the programme of transferring land to the black majority was ongoing, but cautioned this won’t be done “willy-nilly”.

An advocate, Lamola said when land was under state control, it was not true that it would be given for free. If the land was given for free, government could be sued and forced to pay billions of rands if the matter was challenged in the Constitutional Court because it would be found to be unjust and inequitable.

He said the state would lose and be ordered to pay billions of rands in compensation, “which government does not have”.

“So we’re not nationalising, but distributing … we are giving land to those who will use it.

“If we give you a farm or an RDP house, you will get a title deed. We are not nationalising the land in this country, because if we do that we will also be dispossessing land from black people who already have land. We can’t nationalise houses or people’s pieces of land.”

On Tuesday, Cyril Ramaphosa, in his capacity as ANC president, announced the party resolved to go amend section 25 of the constitution and expropriate land without compensation.

Ramaphosa said on TV: “It has become patently clear that our people want the constitution to be more explicit about expropriation of land without compensation, as demonstrated in the public hearings. There is also a growing body of opinion by a number of South Africans that the constitution as it stands does not impede expropriation of land without compensation.

“Accordingly, the ANC will, through the parliamentary process, finalise a proposed amendment to the constitution that outlines more clearly the conditions under which expropriation of land without compensation can be effected.”

The ANC was, however, quick to say it was not undermining the ongoing public hearings by the constitutional review committee.

Enoch Godongwana, the ANC’s economic transformation subcommittee chair, said the party recognised that an “overwhelming” number of South Africans want the constitution amended.

“Are we undermining the parliamentary processes? No. We’re actually meeting the tail-end of that process,” he said. “People at public hearings throughout the country are clear. There is an overwhelming voice to amend and we cannot ignore the voices of our people.”

Public hearings are being held in the Western Cape.

– news@citizen.co.za

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