Draft expropriation bill officially withdrawn from Parliament by public works committee
- The draft expropriation bill which has been before Parliament since 2015 has officially been withdrawn by the public works committee
- The committee’s chairperson Humphrey Mmemezi said the bill was withdrawn because Parliament could not be expected to run parallel processes on land reform issues
- The bill could be reintroduced once the Constitutional Review process into article 25 has concluded its work
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The draft expropriation bill which was introduced by the department of public works and has been before Parliament since 2015 has been officially withdrawn by the public works committee.
The committee’s chairperson Humphrey Mmemezi said the bill was withdrawn because Parliament could not be expected to run parallel processes on land reform issues. The bill could be reintroduced once the Constitutional Review process into article 25 concludes.
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The bill which was introduced by the department of public works does not deal exclusively with land reform issues but critically contradicts the Constitutional Review process in that it does not allow for land expropriation without compensation but rather calls for just and equitable compensation.
Briefly.co.za gathered that the public works committee withdrew the bill to allow the Constitutional Review process to run its course and to recommend to Parliament whether or not section 25 should be amended.
eNCA.com reported that Parliament said the committee fully expects the department to reintroduce an amended bill which could contain clauses pertaining to land expropriation without compensation.
TimesLive.co.za reported that the department of public works hopes to reintroduce the bill before the end of the current year. The department wants the reintroduced bill to serve as a roadmap for exactly how the government plans to implement land expropriation without compensation.
The new bill will hopefully provide South Africans with clarity on the subject of land reform and should serve to quell some of the uncertainty surrounding the topic.
The committee said it was happy with the withdrawal of the bill and hoped to reintroduce a vastly superior bill which includes the input of all South Africans.
READ ALSO: Nedbank: Customers will have to repay bond even if land is expropriated
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Source: Briefly News
