Decision concerning expropriation without compensation like a poisoned chalice for South Africa

4 December 2018

The report by the parliamentary Constitutional Review Committee is not worth the paper it is printed on and the dire consequences of expropriation without compensation loom like a dark cloud on the horizon for South Africa.

That was the response by Dr Corné Mulder, Chief Whip of the FF Plus, during today's parliamentary debate on expropriation without compensation. Here follows Dr Mulder's speech in full:

All South Africa's Members of Parliament stood in front of this podium on Wednesday the 21st of May 2014. Here we swore an oath in front of Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng to uphold and defend our Constitution. Today you say: Nah, let’s forget about the oath and remove a fundamental principle, a cornerstone and basic right that goes to the very heart of the Rule of Law in South Africa, from this very same Constitution.

Expropriation without compensation is a very powerful tool and threat in the hands of any government … until you implement it. Then it becomes a poisoned chalice. Mark my words.

South Africa is in this mess because on the 27th of February 2018, the EFF tricked the ANC to support their motion regarding expropriation without compensation in Parliament.  From that moment on, the EFF lead the way in the matter and the ANC merely followed. Even the final recommendation in this report was moved by the EFF and seconded by the ANC.

Expropriation without compensation has the potential to turn any state into a pariah state. Not only did President Donald Trump warn the ANC not to go down the path of expropriation without compensation, but during their recent visit to the country, Bill and Hillary Clinton also cautioned the ANC.

Today, Parliament is being misled with this report as the Constitutional Review Committee brought before the House a report that will eventually only embarrass Parliament and the President. This report is neither the product of a public participation process nor of debate and agreement in the Committee.

The process that brought this report to Parliament today is fundamentally flawed due to the following reasons:

a. Public Meetings:

There were 33 meetings held in all nine provinces and on average, 75 people spoke at every meeting. On average, about a thousand people were transported to these meetings so as to participate. If all these people were in favour of expropriation without compensation, then it means that only 33 000 people are in favour, but not all these people were indeed in favour.

b. Written Submissions:

In Parliament on the 14th of March this year, President Ramaphosa called on the public to participate in the process. The public did.

More than 630 000 written submissions were received and more than 200 000 emails were received by Parliament. However, these were never made available to the Committee or its members. No report that deals with the written submissions was adopted or even discussed by the Committee.

Moreover, 75% of the written submissions said no, don’t change the Constitution.

c. Oral Presentations:

The Committee heard more than 50 oral presentations by civil society, academics and businessmen – like BUSA, the Banking Association and even Cosatu. Of these, 77% said that the Constitution must not be changed.

On the 31st of July – in the middle of this process – President Ramaphosa stated: “Accordingly, the ANC will through the Parliamentary process finalise a proposed amendment to the Constitution.” This factual statement makes it very clear that the ANC had already decided to amend the Constitution, regardless of public opinion.

During this entire process, no debate of any kind was ever allowed in the Constitutional Review Committee. No debate at all. This is the first Committee in South Africa's Democratic Parliament since 1994 where no debate was allowed for one second on the substance or merits of any single fact that was brought to the attention of the committee.

And that is not all. Even the final recommendation, which is brought before the House today to adopt or reject, was not debated at all. No debate was allowed. The minutes of the meetings will prove this. Unfortunately, the minutes of the last two meetings were never put to the Constitutional Review Committee and were, therefore, never adopted.

The country and the rest of the world must know that the process that the Committee followed is nothing but a charade. A farce that wasted the time and money of thousands of people. This report is thus not worth the paper it is printed on and should be rejected.

Issued by Corné Mulder, FF Plus chief whip, 5 December 2018