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Expropriation without compensation will have unforeseen circumstances and will not be to the benefit of South Africans, leaders of the Freedom Front Plus warned on Thursday.
Seated in front of a pyramid of petitions against expropriation without compensation on a table behind him, FF Plus leader Pieter Groenewald thanked the 101 060 South Africans who had sided with them in opposing the proposal to amend the Constitution.
The FF Plus would submit these petitions, together with their formal presentation, to the Constitutional Review Committee on Thursday. The deadline for submissions to the committee is Friday.
The committee was tasked to look into amending Section 25 of the Constitution, to allow expropriation of land without compensation. This after the National Assembly passed a motion to this effect in February.
In reaction, three months ago, the FF Plus launched a campaign called Fight Back South Africa, which culminated in the petitions. According to FF Plus MP Wouter Wessels, their petitioners are from all races.
While the FF Plus said it supported land reform, as envisioned in Section 25 of the Constitution, it vehemently opposed expropriation without compensation.
They argue that it would harm the economy and that private property ownership was an internationally recognised basic human right, which must be safeguarded by the Constitution in accordance with the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
"The FF Plus is of the opinion that the land reform process was hindered by corruption and administrative incompetence and not by the principle of 'willing buyer, willing seller'," Groenewald said.
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Groenewald pointed out that, if the Constitutional Review Committee decided to go ahead and amend the Constitution, the matter would be referred to the Portfolio Committee on Justice which would then begin the process of drafting an amendment to the Constitution, which would involve another public participation process.
Groenewald said it was, in theory, possible that such an amendment could be passed before the next general election, if that election was in November and not in May.
"This is a dangerous process we're in at the moment," said FF Plus MP Corné Mulder. He said the expropriation without compensation issue was a game played between the EFF and ANC to fight for the vote of a section of the electorate.
"We are unleashing something here that no one will control," he said.
"South Africa doesn't have a land problem, it has a poverty problem," Mulder said.
