DA files court papers against ‘unconstitutional’ Expropriation Act written by RONELLE SNYDERS

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has filed documents with the Western Cape High Court to challenge the recently signed Expropriation Act, saying “the law is unconstitutional, both substantively and procedurally.”

Helen Zille, DA federal council chairperson, announced the news in a statement on Monday.

“The DA has asked the Court for an order that will nullify the Expropriation Act in its current form,” she said.

Zille stated that the DA firmly rejected the Act during the sixth administration, because it believes that no government in a democratic country should possess such extensive powers to expropriate property without compensation.

“We have not forgotten that the apartheid government used similar powers to forcibly remove communities from their land, often with inadequate compensation or none at all.

“This history teaches us that true redress requires the protection of property rights, to ensure that no government ever again gains unchecked expropriation powers.

“It is for this reason that the DA will fight to ensure that every South African can defend, protect and promote their property rights,” she said.

President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the law on January 23, shortly after his return from Davos. The law aims to provide for the expropriation of land and other property for public and certain other purposes.

Zille accused the presidency of announcing the law against the advice of the Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Dean Macpherson, who provided Ramaphosa with a legal opinion that there were problems with the law that made it unconstitutional.

“Apart from compelling legal shortcomings, the DA is strongly opposed to the content of the Act, which seeks to fulfil the mandate of the ANC’s 2017 electoral conference, which instructed the ANC to include expropriation without compensation as a legal instrument.

“After the DA defeated the ANC’s plan to amend section 25 of the Constitution to allow for expropriation without compensation, amending this law became a blunt instrument of the ANC majority in the last parliament,” she said.

She further accused the ANC of trying to obtain further powers of expropriation without compensation in a law that is intended to provide for expropriation in circumstances where the state has to develop infrastructure such as roads, railways and dams.

“Every country has legislation to ensure that the state, with fair compensation, can build public infrastructure, but this law goes too far beyond these accepted international norms.

“In the adoption and signing of the Expropriation Act, the ANC wants to dramatically broaden the scope of expropriation, and keep the window for land restitution open indefinitely,” she said.

She also told the ANC that it was no longer alone in power and had to consider the DA.

“The voters demand that the ANC be in a coalition, and the ANC is bound by a signed declaration of intent for a coalition with the DA. This means that they cannot simply continue to implement decisions of ANC elective conferences.

“The ANC must now share power for the first time in our democratic history, and the DA will not stand by and allow the ANC to act as if they have won a majority,” she added.

IOL

SOURCE:DA files court papers against ‘unconstitutional’ Expropriation Act – Volkskrag News