Does the ANC have any understanding of democracy and do they have control over processes? - The more pressing danger is the new racial focus
29 August 2021
We have taken note of radical changes to an already unacceptable 18th Amendment Bill to amend Section 25 of the Constitution in order to allow expropriation without compensation.
This is absolute and final confirmation of the ANC's frantic desperation to complete the process. Factions are already characterised by irreversable internal tensions and friction. Expropriation without compensation, and the amendment of the Constitution to make this possible, have their direct origins in the ANC's factional fighting. The superficial assurances that President Ramaphosa initially gave "that the economy should not be harmed" are no longer a consideration either. The reality is that the economy has long been plagued by shortcomings and policy uncertainties.
An African saying goes, "When elephants do battle, it is the grass that suffers." In this case, it is unfortunately the Constitution and democratic parliamentary processes that are suffering under an ANC that has lost control.
Moving the date of 1913 back to 1 January 1800 and excluding the communal land of traditional communities unfortunately indicates that the ANC is now dancing to the EFF’s tune. Land expropriation consequently becomes a process in which race will become the criterion for expropriation. The ANC are now the puppets, with the EFF as puppet master.
Amid deteriorating economic conditions, increasing poverty and rapidly rising unemployment figures, the ANC government persists in its pursuit of harmful and dangerous policies that offer no solutions to the socio-economic issues facing South Africa. On the contrary, policies such as expropriation without compensation are further undermining fundamental economic principles and pose an enormous threat to economic and accompanying social progress.
It is the government's primary responsibility to ensure order, stability and security for the country's inhabitants, and to create a climate in which investors feel safe to invest their capital. In both these respects the ANC government is dismally failing South Africa. The state is becoming increasingly dysfunctional, with infrastructure and service delivery collapsing. It is in this toxic environment which the ANC has created that South Africans must struggle to survive.
State capture, corruption and poor service delivery all contribute to the perception that the government is not serious about a successful and sustainable economic model. Expropriation without compensation, with the accompanying race criteria that are now being included, unfortunately brings South Africa closer to failure.
The protection of property rights is the only sustainable method by which opportunities can be created for everyone in the country. The deprivation of this right is internationally unacceptable and runs counter to everything that our constitutional dispensation was expected to achieve.
These proposals are pure unconstitutional madness. They are further alienating the government from moderate South Africans, who form the core of the citizenry in South Africa.
Issued by Jan Bosman, Chief Secretary of the Afrikanerbond, 27 August 2021
