By Zukile Majova
- The DA has launched an urgent court challenge against new law allowing government to take land without always paying for it.
- Helen Zille warns the law gives the government the same powers the apartheid regime used to steal land from black South Africans.
The DA has launched an urgent court challenge to stop what it calls “a dangerous land grab law” signed by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
DA Federal Chairperson Helen Zille went to the Western Cape High Court on Monday, warning that the new Expropriation Act could destroy property rights in South Africa.
The new law gives the government powers to seize land and buildings they say aren’t being used properly – and in some cases, they won’t have to pay a cent to the owners.
“We reject this Act because we believe that no government in a democratic country should be given such sweeping powers to expropriate property without compensation,” said Zille.
“We have not forgotten that the apartheid government used similar powers to forcibly remove communities from their land, often with inadequate compensation or none at all.”
The battle has even caused cracks in the Government of National Unity, with DA Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Dean Macpherson, warning Ramaphosa the law breaks the Constitution.
But the ANC is pushing ahead despite fierce opposition, giving itself the power to take over what it calls “abandoned or underutilised” land for development.
Zille claims the ANC rushed the law through parliament illegally. “Five out of the seven provinces that voted for the Act in the National Council of Provinces did so without obtaining a provincial mandate in the manner prescribed by law and regulations.”
The DA says the ANC is trying to sneak in extra powers to take land without paying, instead of just allowing for infrastructure development like roads and dams.
Pictured above: Helen Zille and Cyril Ramaphosa.
Source: Flickr/GCIS
