Amendment of Constitution will accelerate land reform – Ramaphosa
21 August 2018
President Cyril Ramaphosa has said that the interpretation of section 25 of the Constitution which relates to land expropriation must be made explicitly clear to enable the speeding up of land reform processes.
Giving the keynote address at the African Farmers' Association of South Africa's (Afasa) Agribusiness Transformation Conference Gala Dinner in Kempton Park on Monday evening, Ramaphosa said the amendment of section 25 would make it possible to use the section as a transformational instrument in land ownership.
In 2017, the ruling party resolved to expropriate land without compensation, however, the section in the Constitution which deals with expropriation of land does not expressly state that land can be requisitioned in this manner.
"The clarity that is sought about what the Constitution says, the implied interpretation of the Constitution, is that section 25 does not prohibit the expropriation of land without compensation and the proposal that we essentially put forward is to make that clear, explicitly clear and once that is clear, we will then be able to speed ahead with our land reform processes," said Ramaphosa.