Sakeliga demands government set record straight on Expropriation Bill’s assessment
14 June 2021
The business group Sakeliga is calling on the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure to withdraw its purported socio-economic impact assessment (SEIA) on the Expropriation Bill and apologise for its negligent misrepresentation of the perspectives of civil society organisations on the bill.
Sakeliga demands, furthermore, that government take note, in future impact assessments, of the serious concerns raised by civil society about the detrimental and unintended consequences of bad policy decisions.
Various groups and citizens, while consulting with government on the Expropriation Bill, pointed to the potential of economic catastrophe, should the bill, alongside the constitutional amendment to allow confiscation without compensation, be adopted. None of these concerns were recorded in the SEIA and in the event that the SEIA did note concerns, it dismissed them out of hand without honest engagement or reasonable independent analysis.
As a result of these material defects, the validity of the consultative process and the advice given to Cabinet on the strength of the SEIA are called into question.