The time has come for South Africans to see the ominous reality of a carefully planned ANC strategy to, using apparent legal methods, gain sole ownership of all property in South Africa, without paying any compensation, Adv. Anton Alberts, the parliamentary spokesperson on trade and industry for the Freedom Front Plus, says.
Adv. Alberts had already at the end of last year, with the publication of the Promotion and Protection of Investors Bill in the Government Gazette, seriously warned of the dangers attached to the Bill.
“The Institute for Race Relations is now confirming our interpretation. Especially when read with the proposed legislation which aims to re-open land claims, no property is safe. The FF Plus last year warned against this and said it is critical and there are concerns for sound reasons.
“We are again calling on all sane South Africans to take note of this and together with the FF Plus organise on every level to oppose it.
“We are the only party which is opposed to land reform in its current form as it is counter-productive, it has irrefutably been proven to have failed (9 out of 10 farms) and there is no money for the stream of new claims that can be expected. In addition, the existing claims still need to be finalised.
“In the latest policy documents of the Institute of Race Relations, it is pointed out that the public is not properly informed of the effect of the Bill and that the dangers attached to it have passed by almost unnoticed.
“The Institute also warns that the Promotion and Protection of Investors does not in the least have the protection of investors or property in mind and there are various well-hidden clauses which gives the state the right to appropriate anything in private ownership. From mines, banks and farms to one’s dog or cat.
“The door for this has been opened with the judgment of the Constitutional Court last year in which property (a mine) with mineral rights attached to it was nationalised. The court determined that the state as the custodian of the property does not have to pay for it.
“One of the hidden clauses determines that in this case the state could take mere custody of property. The Constitutional Court’s decision has thus provided a legal basis with regards to this clause.
“The state may therefore appropriate any property and only keep it in custody to, at a stage, transfer it to whom it wishes for its own advantage.
“The Institute mentions that it is possible that thousands of farms and other property which could be threatened by the new land claims, could in this manner ‘legally’ be placed in the custody of the state before it is transferred to the land claimants.
“Everybody has already seen what the ANC is capable of. Everybody in the business and agricultural sector now has to reflect and take the hands of the FF Plus to prevent these plans being implemented,” Adv. Alberts says. The FF Plus will strongly object to the content of this Bill in the parliamentary portfolio committee on trade and industry.
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