Parly’s second house passes Expropriation Bill
20 March 2024
On Tuesday, 19 March 2024, Parliament’s second house, the National Council of Provinces (“NCOP”), passed a changed version of the Expropriation Bill during its plenary. The Bill allows for expropriation without compensation (“EWC”).
This is despite the fact that Parliament rejected the Constitution Eighteenth Amendment Bill (B18-2021) in December 2021. This amendment of the Constitution aimed at changing section 25 of the Constitution to expressly allow for EWC.
The NCOP did propose to Parliament’s first house, the National Assembly (“NA”), that it make certain changes to the Bill. However, none of these amendments proposed removing the EWC provisions from the Bill or remedying the serious constitutional concerns surrounding the Bill.
“Given that the Constitution, South Africa’s supreme law, has specifically not been amended to allow for EWC, should the Expropriation Bill be signed into law by the President, it can be challenged for being inconsistent with the Constitution (i.e. unconstitutional),” says Daniela Ellerbeck, Constitutional Programmes Manager at the FW de Klerk Foundation.