Political parties, such as the DA and IFP, missed a golden opportunity to take a stand with the FF Plus and approach the Constitutional Court in terms of section 80 of the Constitution to test the constitutionality of the Expropriation Act.
Section 80 of the Constitution determines that at least one third of the members of the National Assembly (NA) may apply to the Constitutional Court to obtain an order that a parliamentary law is unconstitutional, whether partially or in its entirety.
The FF Plus approached the parties in question last month and has been engaging with them ever since to try and persuade them to make use of the opportunity, afforded to the parties in the NA by the Constitution, to challenge contestable laws.
Section 80 was included in the Constitution as a protection mechanism for that very reason, and it would have been quite possible to bring the matter before the Constitutional Court with the help of other parties. It would also have created the impression of a united front within the political community.
It is unfortunate that the opportunity has been wasted. All the possible legal and political avenues to challenge the law’s provisions should be explored, but parties should guard against simply exploiting this significant situation to impress voters, while failing to explore all the avenues available to them.
The FF Plus’s next step is to approach the Constitutional Court directly. The FF Plus maintains its stance that the law’s provision for expropriation with zero compensation 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, as is evident in President Donald Trump and the USA’s response to expropriation in South Africa.
Investors will not easily be persuaded to invest in a country where their property could be expropriated.
All South Africans as well as everyone in any democratic dispensation have the right to own property, and government has no right to expropriate it without market-related compensation.
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