Expropriation Bill resolved, sent back to NA with proposed amendments
The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) has passed three bills during its plenary on Tuesday.
These are the National Council on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Bill, the National Youth Development Agency Amendment Bill and the Independent Police Investigative Directorate Amendment Bill.
Last year, the National Assembly (NA) passed all three Bills and sent them to the NCOP for concurrence.
These three Bills passed by the NCOP will now be sent to the President for assent as required by the Constitution.
At the same at the NCOP virtual plenary sitting, delegates to the Council also considered the Expropriation Bill and resolved to send it back to the National Assembly with proposed amendments.
This as one of the objectives of the bill is to expropriate land and property in the interest of the public.
"The Expropriation Bill seeks to repeal the existing Expropriation Act of 1975 to provide a common framework in line with the Constitution to guide the processes and procedures for the expropriation of property by organs of state," said Parlimentary spokesperson Moloto Mothapo.
"It further seeks to provide for certain instances where expropriation with no compensation may be appropriate in the public interest. After some deliberations, the House resolved to send the Bill back to the NA with proposed amendments for reconsideration."
However, the Western Cape was the only province that voted against the legislation.
The DA's Tim Brauteseth says the bill does not pass constitutional muster.
"Besides being clearly inconsistent with section 25 of the Constitution, which provides that property can only be expropriated “subject to compensation”, the process followed in guiding the Bill through the NCOP committee was plagued by irregularities and an alarming level of disinterest in ANC-governed provinces to comply with proper parliamentary procedure.
"The ANC-led government, unconcerned by tampering with our constitutional rights in this way, and with some fancy footwork, has snuck a provision into the bill to allow for expropriation with “nil compensation”, in the hopes that this would pass constitutional muster.
"It is patently obvious to anyone who reads this bill that this is nothing more than expropriation without compensation in disguise."
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