Frightening aspects of the Draft Expropriation Bill
25 February 2019
One of the most frightening aspects of the Draft Expropriation Bill is that it gives our 257 municipalities the right to expropriate property without compensation, says the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
In the letter of objection to the Bill, Ms Janine Myburgh, President of the Chamber, said that the biggest demand for land was in the urban areas so municipalities would be the authorities most likely to do the expropriating and they would be given dangerous powers which most of them were not competent or equipped to use.
“The performance of our municipalities leaves a great deal to be desired. This is clear from the fact that only 33 of our 257 municipalities obtained clean audits last year and the auditor general has complained of the lack of accountability and that his advice is simply ignored.”
In addition, there was a vast corruption problem with, for example, municipalities collecting money for electricity and spending it on other projects instead of paying Eskom. Municipalities now owed the electricity company R17 billion.