Wyndham Hartley
28 August 2008
Cape Town — Despite one of the most intensive programmes of public hearings in the democratic Parliament's history, "lack of proper consultation" has been cited as the reason for "shelving" the controversial Expropriation Bill.
Parliament's public works committee held hearings in all of the provinces and in the National Assembly on the draft bill. There was an explosion of objections to the bill and dire warnings that if enacted it would undermine the property market, scare off foreign investment and contravene the constitution's property clause.
While there have been expressions of gratitude from opponents of the bill on the news that it had been shelved the status of the bill was still unclear yesterday.
Normally, if a bill is withdrawn this is done by the cabinet minister responsible.
In this case, public works committee chairwoman Thandi Tobias-Pokolo announced in Parliament it had been shelved until further notice.
But it was not clear if this meant that it would be redrafted or if, after further "consultation", it would simply be reconsidered.
During the public hearings, a wide range of organisations such as agricultural unions, property associations, civil society groups and banks warned that the bill was a gross contravention of section 25 of the constitution, which protects property rights.
Drawing the most fire were provisions that would allow all property, not just fixed property, to be expropriated in the public interest and the clauses that would confine the courts to ruling only on the process of an expropriation.
The constitution states the courts can decide on what constitutes fair compensation.
The government has insisted all along that the provisions of the bill were firstly to bring it in line with the constitution and also to inject some haste into the land-reform process.
Announcing the shelving, Tobias-Pokolo said the decision was reached after further consultation with interested parties both inside and outside Parliament. She said advice sought by the committee indicated "more time was needed to ensure that a wide variety of stakeholders had been consulted and that public participation may have been insufficient to see the bill through".
AfriForum, one of the bill's most strident opponents, welcomed the decision. CEO Kallie Kriel said: "The retraction of the Expropriation Bill is proof of the power civil society can exert when its organisations co-operate with each other.
"The Expropriation Bill's stipulation that the expropriation amount may be less than the market value of the property, and that market value will not be the determining factor, would have deterred local as well as international investors had it been implemented."
Tobias-Pokolo said the committee hoped the bill would return in the "next Parliament".
This means that the delay could be until after the election next year, which is expected to be held in April.
Neil Gopal, CEO of commercial property organisation Sapoa, said the shelving of the bill was due to the efforts of Sapoa and other bodies.
"I heard a few weeks ago that the parliamentary legal advisers concurred with Sapoa's position, which was that certain provisions of the amendment bill were unconstitutional and there were other aspects such as the definition of property that needed clarification," said Gopal. But Sapoa still supported land reform, Gopal said.
Berry Everitt, MD of real estate group Chas Everitt International, said he thought the bill had been only "postponed", but that it was "good news and that the government had listened to the petition from the business community".
Samuel Seeff, chairman of Seeff Properties, said it was a "positive" move and just what was needed to give people "greater confidence in property in that their rights are protected".
With Nick Wilson
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Who will become the owners of this 'EXPROPRIATED land,some body please acurateley inform me,I have the feeling nobody except the ANC knows or cares,what a state of affairs to live on stolen land that never becomes yours,and not even care about it.