Thursday, March 22, 2018
The Joint Constitutional Review Committee set up to review Section 25 of the Constitution to make it possible for the state to expropriate land without compensation, has resolved to go on an extensive public participation process.
The committee was instructed by the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces to review section 25 of the Constitution and other clauses where necessary, to make it possible for the state to expropriate land in the public interest without compensation, and propose the necessary constitutional amendments.
The committee is expected to engage in a public participation process in order to get the views of all stakeholders about the necessity and mechanisms for expropriating land without compensation.
The committee will publish advertisements for oral and written submissions from the public. The public will have a month to respond after which the committee will visit three to four districts or local municipalities per province for public hearings.
The public hearings are proposed to start on 8 May 2018 in Limpopo. The committee plans to split into two groups for the public hearings in order to cover a larger part of the country.
The committee has until 30 August 2018 to report back to Parliament.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has said the process of restoring land to previously disadvantaged South Africans will be conducted with great care.
“We will accelerate our land redistribution programme not only to redress a grave historical injustice but also to bring more producers into the agricultural sector and to make more land available for cultivation,” he said during his State of the Nation Address.
He said government will pursue a comprehensive approach that makes effective use of all the mechanisms at its disposal, which will include the expropriation of land without compensation as guided by the resolutions of the 54th National Conference of the African National Congress (ANC).
– SAnews.gov.za