South African lobby group ‘Agri SA’ slammed the plans to change the constitution to make it easier to expropriate land without compensation. On top of that, they accused the government of failing to implement existing policies to address racially skewed ownership patterns.
Christo van der Rheede, Agri SA’s deputy executive director, stated on Wednesday there was very little cooperation between the national and provincial government on land reform, and that bureaucracy and an ineffective legislative framework were frustrating the process.
President Ramaphosa has given assurances that the government isn’t embarking on a land grab and any policy changes won’t be allowed to damage agricultural production. Even so, data released on Tuesday showed farm output dropped an annualized 29.2 percent in the second quarter and was a major contributor to the country falling into its first recession since 2009.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions, the country’s biggest labor group, also said it opposed changing the constitution, which already enables the state to tackle land reform, restitution and redistribution.
The ANC will need some opposition support to secure the two-thirds majority it needs to alter a clause requiring just and equitable compensation to be paid for expropriated property. It’s likely to win the backing of the radical Economic Freedom Fighters, which wants all land nationalized. A protracted court battle is likely to be waged to test the validity of any amendments passed by parliament.
Bloomberg.com quoted Zwelethu Jolobe, a politics lecturer at the University of Cape Town, as saying: “Addressing the land issue is not as simple as they make it out to be. No draft law has been tabled and no draft policy documents have emerged. It is highly unlikely this issue will be resolved in the next year or two, or if ever.”
