ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula during the press briefing on Tuesday. (X)
South Africa’s recently inked Expropriation Act is about transformation and should not be viewed as the new “swart gevaar”, ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula said on Tuesday evening.
Transformation of the country to a more inclusive one was non-negotiable for the ANC, he added.
Mbalula was briefing the media at Luthuli House about the outcomes of the party’s three-day national lekgotla when he made the statements.
President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the Expropriation Bill — which allows for expropriation with no compensation — into law last week, immediately invoking unhappiness in some opposition parties, particularly the Democratic Alliance (DA), the ANC’s biggest alliance partner in the government of national unity (GNU).
The DA, trade union Solidarity, AfriForum and the Freedom Front Plus have threatened to take the Act to court, while the DA public works minister, Dean Macpherson, has said that expropriation without compensation would not take place “under my watch”.
Macpherson has previously said that according to a legal opinion sought by his ministry, the Act is unconstitutional.
The Inkatha Freedom Party has also rejected the Act. It has said it “undermines the spirit of consensus and collaboration” in the GNU and that no compensation could lead to arbitrary targeting of landowners. It wants the Act to be referred to the constitutional court to determine whether it is consistent with the Constitution.
Addressing the reactions on Tuesday, Mbalula said “[The ANC] believes some don’t understand us”, therefore, the party would hold discussions with its GNU partners “so that they understand where we come from, as the ANC”.
“It’s not just matters of process, that somebody did not understand the process. It’s about [how fundamental transformation is to us]. But over and above that, that transformation is not swart gevaar,” said Mbalula.
Transformation is not a danger to anybody, he said. “It’s about this principle of inclusivity.”
The Act is viewed by some opposition parties and legal experts as being contrary to section 25 of the Constitution, which states that property can only be expropriated “subjected to compensation”.
The new Act sets out when no compensation can be considered “fair”, how expropriation should happen and which types of land can be targeted.
Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya has previously said the law could not be used “arbitrarily”, and expropriation had to be done for public use or in the public interest.
At its own media briefing earlier on Tuesday, the DA accused Ramaphosa and the ANC of side-lining GNU partners when signing Bills into law, saying this violated the founding principles of the GNU.
DA leader John Steenhuisen said at that briefing that the GNU agreement required all decisions, including those on previously passed legislation, to involve consultation with coalition parties.
But fielding questions after the ANC briefing, national executive committee member Fébé Potgieter-Gqubule said Ramaphosa could not have postponed signing the Act because “somebody feels they are not happy with it”, as it was passed by parliament.
Potgieter said there was “a lot of disinformation going around” about the Expropriation Act, as was the case with the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act.
The media, government and political parties should “together, educate people about what the Expropriation Act is about”, she said.
“It’s mainly aimed at looking at how we accelerate land reform — land tenure, land claims and land redistribution.”
The Expropriation Act was “the next step” in accelerating land reform, she said.
DA MP Tim Brauteseth last year described the passing of the then Expropriation Bill through the National Council of Provinces committee as “plagued by irregularities and an alarming level of disinterest in ANC-governed provinces to comply with proper parliamentary procedure”.
