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The DA is readying its court application to have the Joint Constitutional Review Committee's report on section 25 of the Constitution reviewed, DA leader Mmusi Maimane said on Monday.
Both houses of Parliament last week adopted the report, which recommends that the Constitution is amended to allow expropriation of land without compensation.
On Thursday, the National Assembly passed a motion, brought by ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu, to establish an ad hoc committee to draft the amendment.
Earlier on Monday, the DA said it would ask the courts to review and set aside the report. Maimane and DA chief whip John Steenhuisen were addressing the media to provide an overview of 2018 in Parliament.
Asked at what stage their court application was, Maimane said the documents had been drafted and just needed to be signed off. He said the "careless work" by lobby group AfriForum, which unsuccessfully applied for an interdict against the court before the parliamentary process was concluded, had had an impact on the DA's application.
Steenhuisen said there were a number of "procedural pitfalls" because the ANC wanted to get the report before Parliament for "a political deadline" in a "rush to get political momentum away from the EFF".
Didiza to chair ad hoc committee
He also said the motion that was passed on Thursday was faulty, because the way it was formulated bound the House to approve expropriation without compensation, no matter what the outcome of the public participation process was.
"What it essentially says to South Africans is: 'Your views don't matter,'" Steenhuisen said.
On Friday, Mthembu said House chairperson and former minister of land affairs Thoko Didiza would chair the ad hoc committee that will draft the amendment to section 25.
The ad hoc committee will consist of 11 voting members of the National Assembly, six from the ANC, two from the DA, one from the EFF and two from other parties.
There will also be 14 non-voting members, with two from the ANC, one from the DA, one from the EFF and 10 from other parties.
ANC MPs Vincent Smith, Stan Maila, Rosina Semenya, Lindiwe Maseko and Pumzile Mnguni will be the ANC's voting members on the ad hoc committee, while Phumuzile Ngwenya-Mabila and Nono Maloyi will be non-voting members.
The DA has not decided who will represent the party on the committee, but Steenhuisen said it would probably be MPs who had served on the Joint Constitutional Review Committee and have a legal background.
Glynnis Breytenbach, Thandeka Mbabama, Vusi Magwebu and Annelie Lotriet represented the DA on the committee.
