Constitution cannot hinder land expropriation, says ANC

The party held a land summit at the weekend. 

National Executive Committee (NEC) member, Ronald Lamola, briefed the media on the outcomes and recommendations of the summit at Luthuli House on Monday. 

Lamola told journalists they the ANC is ready to test the Section 25 of the Constitution. 

"Our view is that Section 25 of the constitution as it stands allows us to expropriate land without compensation. But the debate has been that it has not been tested, so we are saying let's put it into a test through various mechanisms," said Lamola. 

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Lamola said a bill will have to be brought before Parliament. 

"But we also have to bring an expropriation bill before Parliament that will clearly stipulate under what circumstances land will be expropriated. After that bill has been put in place, we must look at the possibility of the President taking the bill to the ConCourt to test its constitutionality. That will then cut out a lot of processes and we will then be able to expropriate land."

The summit also resolved that state-owned companies, which own urban land, must be allowed to expropriate that land through a redistribution bill. 

Lamola said while the summit recommended that land owned by traditional leaders must be democratised. This will be further debated by the NEC. 

The  NEC still needs to adopt the summit recommendations.