The Constitution@Work Presents: Part 2 - Ideology Behind the Expropriation Bill
28 October 2022
In the latest episode of The Constitution@Work, Project Manager at the Institute of Race Relations Terence Corrigan joins FW de Klerk Foundation Chairperson Dave Steward and Manager of Constitutional Programmes Tyla Dallas for a discussion on the underlying ideology that led to the recent adoption of the much-contested Expropriation Bill.
Our speakers propose that the intention behind the Bill is locked up in the ANC's ideology of National Democratic Revolution (NDR) - racial redistribution of property has been a central facet of this approach. The ANC divided the post-1994 period into two phases: the political transition (which ended in about 2012), and the economic transformation of South Africa - with the redistribution of land seen as an essential part of the economic transformation.
However, there is - in reality - no need for the Bill - at least if one is truly interested in land reform. As the ANC's own high-level panel pointed out a few years ago, the problem isn't with section 25 of the Constitution (which contains a just and equitable mechanism for expropriation of property) but with the mismanagement of the government departments involved as a result of corruption.