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It is worrying that the ANC is determined to bulldoze ‘nil compensation’ into section 12 of the Expropriation Bill. Dates and venues have been announced for public hearings on the bill in Gauteng.

This follows their failure to pass the Constitution 18th Amendment Bill, which sought to amend Section 25 of the Constitution to allow for the expropriation of land without compensation.

The ruling party refuses to acknowledge how the interference in private property rights will cause massive economic harm. The current bill will deter investment, restrict growth and worsen the unemployment crisis. This will force millions more people into joblessness, poverty, and hunger.

The ANC wrongly frames the bill as a land reform instrument and seeks to lull citizens into believing it is only under very specific circumstances that nil compensation can be offered. All South Africans will find themselves vulnerable to expropriation, for zero or inadequate compensation, by hundreds of cash-strapped municipalities and other organs of state. It is not just land and buildings but also intangible assets that may be expropriated.

The duplicity of the ANC in Gauteng was demonstrated when their Chief Whip, Lesego Makhubela, indicated that they would lobby for the total removal of compensation under any circumstances to what he called “land-thieves”. His racist tirade included an attack on an Indian family who owns large tracts of land around the Waterfall Estate in northern Johannesburg.

Increasingly, as the election approaches, we are seeing more and more extreme left-wing positions being taken by senior officials in the ruling party. This is a warning that to retain political power, the ANC is prepared to sink the country.

In addition to the concern about the constitutionality of the bill, some clauses are vague, which opens the risk to a rapacious government which may wish to unjustly enrich itself or its connected cadres at the expense of private property owners.

Our residents will not have a thriving future under the ANC. This is why it is of utmost importance that all our residents participate in the public hearings on this bill. The defeat of the Expropriation Bill and the election in 2024 provide an opportunity to build a better future.

Issued by Alan Fuchs MPL - DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Infrastructure Development