Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus) has called on the parties that voted against the Expropriation Bill to join hands and challenge the legislation President Cyril Ramaphosa signed into law last Thursday.
Political parties have had mixed reactions. Within the Government of National Unity (GNU), most parties, including the Democratic Alliance (DA) and Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), have vehemently rejected the Expropriation Act.
FF PLUS WANTS TO CHALLENGE THE EXPROPRIATION ACT
The Freedom Front Plus said that after adopting the Expropriation Bill in 2023, it asked political parties to challenge its constitutionality in the Constitutional Court under section 80 of the Constitution.
Section 80 of the Constitution determines that one-third of the National Assembly (NA) members may apply to the Constitutional Court to obtain an order that a parliamentary law is unconstitutional, whether partially or in its entirety.
This must be done within 30 days of the date on which the President signed and promulgated the law.
The party said this is just one of the steps it is taking to prevent the implementation of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s promulgated Expropriation Act.
“The FF Plus maintains that the law is unconstitutional. It not only poses serious risks for South Africans as regards their property rights, but it also sends an extremely negative message to the international community. Investors will not easily be persuaded to invest in a country where their property could be expropriated.
“If not enough parties support a section 80 application, the FF Plus will still approach the Constitutional Court to challenge the Act’s constitutionality. All South Africans, as well as everyone in any democratic dispensation, have the right to own property, and the government has no right to expropriate it without market-related compensation.”
DA SEEKS TO CHALLENGE ‘CONTROVERSIAL’ ACT
Meanwhile, DA leader John Steenhuisen confirmed that he has written to Ramaphosa to notify him that he was formally invoking Section 19 of the Statement of Intent over the enactment of the Land Expropriation Act.
During a briefing at the weekend, Steenhuisen said after a promising start whereby President Ramaphosa delayed the implementation of the BELA Act to enable negotiations, recent weeks have made it increasingly clear that the ANC has lost interest in honouring its side of the relationship.
Steenhuisen also accused Ramaphosa of disregarding the serious constitutional objections raised by Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson over the Expropriation Bill.
“He failed to even inform the Minister about when he intended to sign the bill into force,” he said.
Macpherson has also expressed dissatisfaction with the Expropriation Act, saying it will not be implemented under his watch.
Further, Steenhuisen said the seriousness of this situation demands that they engage other parties in the GNU, too, such as the IFP, which has publicly opposed the Expropriation Act.
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