The ANC and EFF have agreed to amend Section 25 of the Constitution not only to make possible expropriation without compensation but also for land state custodianship. Yet during Monday’s parliamentary committee deliberation, it seemed each has a different understanding of such state custodianship.
The ANC is in a tight corner. To give effect to its 2017 Nasrec resolution that expropriation without compensation is a possibility, it needs the EFF support in the House. Changing the Bill of Rights — Section 25 is the property clause — must get 75% support in the National Assembly. With its 230 seats the governing ANC falls short — and without the 44 EFF seats not enough support can be garnered to reach the required 267 votes.
But the EFF, in line with its cardinal policy pillars, wants state ownership 0f land. That was the phrasing of the initial February 2018 motion to the House, before it was toned down in consultations with the ANC to get the governing party support. Ultimately, that motion led to the decision to amend Section 25 of the Constitution to make it explicit that expropriation without compensation is possible.
Over the past three weeks or so the EFF…