The Democratic Alliance (DA) fully supports a sustainable and equitable land reform process. But the Expropriation Bill currently before Parliament will bring about exactly the opposite result by undermining a legally sound land reform programme.

It will also threaten the very foundation of South Africa's economy - the security of property rights - leading to massive disinvestment and capital flight, to the detriment of all South Africans, particularly the poor and the landless, who will inevitably be the ones most affected by any sharp decline in South Africa 's economy, because they will not have the resources to flee the economic fallout.

The Bill in its current form constitutes a full-on assault on some of the most fundamental principles of our Constitution and should be of concern to anyone - urban or rural, black or white - who currently owns, or intends in the future to own property of any kind.

Specific provisions
There are a number of enormously problematic clauses in this Bill. We will discuss here only the most potentially destructive ones:

Firstly, the Bill will give the Minister of Land Affairs and Agriculture wide-ranging powers to expropriate any property or any right in property. The Bill defines property very broadly; a definition which could be read to include any kind of property with an economic value (and which is completely unrelated to land reform) ranging from immovable property, to shares and companies, to cars, furniture and other personal possessions.

There is a well-documented symbiotic relationship between the security of property ownership and economic growth. Those countries that have undermined these freedoms, as Zimbabwe graphically illustrates, have fallen into economic ruin. We must not follow this path.

Secondly, the Bill in line with Constitution allows for expropriation in the "public interest", but makes no effort to define what constitutes the public interest. Therefore the Minister may expropriate for whatever reason he or she deems appropriate. This in turn will make land sales, or indeed any other kind of commercial transaction, very difficult to conclude with certainty and in good faith - thereby undermining the very foundation of South Africa 's economic prosperity, which in turn will have devastating economic consequences, most especially for the poor and the landless.

Thirdly, according to the Bill the Minister has the sole authority to appoint the members of national and regional Expropriation Advisory Boards. By bypassing Parliament as well as the public on the composition of the boards, these structures will not be impartial. Furthermore, in appointing Board members the Minister is required only to consider the race and gender of the applicants. No mention is made of the need for specialised knowledge in the fields of law, agriculture or economics, all of which are essential skills needed in relation to this legislation.

Fourthly, in a clear violation of the Constitution, in a situation where there is no agreement between the Minister and the property owner on an acceptable price for that property, the Minister alone will be entitled to decide on the amount of compensation and the State is not compelled to consider the market value of the property - and may offer less than market value.

This violates section 25 of our Constitution, which stipulates that when expropriating, the government must be guided by certain factors, including market value.

Finally, the person whose property has been expropriated will also not be able to challenge the amount of compensation offered in court, but only the process that led to the expropriation in the first instance. This is a further clear violation of the Constitution, Section 34, which gives a party affected by an expropriation order the right to have their matter adjudicated on by an independent judge.

The Real Reason for the Slow Pace of Land Reform
The fact that the government has decided to proceed with such an ill-considered piece of legislation is difficult to understand in the context of its purported support for a market-led economy and a constitutional democracy.

The Bill is clearly a desperate attempt to distract attention from the State's inability to properly manage the land reform process - in particular its inability to allocate sufficient resources to this programme and to address capacity problems within the Land Affairs department.

It is also designed to help mask the fact that the state has been unable to make proper use of market mechanisms to help distribute land (research has shown the market has been far more effective in facilitating land transfers) and the government's fundamental inability to identify and distribute large tracts of state-owned land.

Over the past four years the state has budgeted an average of R3.5 billion a year to land reform. Yet the Centre for Development and Enterprise ( CDE ) states that a handful of claims could cost R1-billion to settle.  Furthermore, more than one quarter of the Department's posts are vacant, making a speedy and effective process all but impossible

It is little wonder then that, according to the CDE , the government only managed to distribute an extra 0, 4% of land to black South Africans between 2004 and 2008.

The DA's Proposals
There is no need for the drastic and patently unconstitutional measures proposed in this Bill. The focus should rather shift to the real problem, which is the lack of clear focus, an inadequate budget and a shortage of skilled personnel within the Department of Land Affairs.

Firstly, the DA proposes that the State become a far more active player in the land market. Every year around 4% of privately owned land comes onto the market. Even if only half of this land were purchased by the State, great strides would be taken in reaching its targets.

Secondly, the DA proposes dividing the Ministry of Land Affairs and Agriculture into two separate ministries to make it possible to give more focused and specialised attention to each department.

This should be followed by an audit of the land the State holds to allow for the faster release of surplus land for redistribution. It is revealing that only 30% of the land held by the State is surveyed and registered.

Public/Private Partnerships in land reform need to be actively encouraged. There are numerous examples of where such partnerships have succeeded, with recent examples being an eco-tourism joint venture in the Phinda area in KwaZulu-Natal , and Sappi's sale of 25% of its plantation to an empowerment consortium Lereko Property Consortium.

Ultimately, the success or failure of land reform affects everyone in South Africa . The DA will continue to do all in its power to ensure that land reform is dealt with within a legally sound and sustainable framework - the challenge now is for all South Africans, who share this vision to make their voices heard.

This is the text of a joint statement by Democratic Alliance leader, Helen Zille; spokesperson for Public Works, Sydney Opperman MP; and, spokesperson for Land Affairs Maans Nel MP, issued June 2 2008