Views from the Fynbos Pods at Farm215. Photo: Amy Lyn Eveleigh Photography
Views from the Fynbos Pods at Farm215. Photo: Amy Lyn Eveleigh Photography
An ad hoc Committee on amending Section 25 of the Constitution has asked to postpone the process of implementing land expropriation without compensation across South Africa, after various logistical challenges posed by coronavirus temporarily derailed the government’s plans.
The Committee will now send a letter to the speaker of the National Assembly asking for an extension to finalise their proposals. There will be no date or timeframe on the request, which could cause something of a headache for the legislative teams in the National Assembly.
The meeting, which took place over the weekend, has a consensus of contributors who were adamant that no progress could be made on land expropriation while South Africa remains in lockdown. Even the easing of restrictions – due to take place next week – still makes life difficult for Parliamentary representatives.
Those present on the Zoom meeting made the following points, before arriving at a unanimous conclusion:
This marks the second delay of the year for parliament’s ad-hoc Committee, who had previously missed a deadline to share their amendments to the Constitution back in March. They were given until 29 May to draft the changes, but once more, they’ve asked to push back – albeit in more extraordinary circumstances this time.
The need to push forward with land expropriation plans comes just months after Mike Pompeo – the US Secretary of State and ‘right-hand man’ to Donald Trump – slammed South Africa’s proposals as ‘disastrous’. But, even in the middle of a coronavirus pandemic, the Committee’s progress will be observed hawkishly.