The Umkhonto we Sizwe Party (MK) seems determined to undo key provisions of the 1994 constitutional agreement.
This can be gleaned from the announcement regarding the repeal of Section 235 on self-determination published in the Government Gazette on 27 March 2026.
In a media statement issued on 7 April 2026, the party states that it also seeks to amend Section 25 on property rights to explicitly provide for the expropriation of land without compensation for purposes of land reform.
In the early 1990s, the white minority government came to the realisation that remaining in power was not sustainable. The foundation for a new dispensation was negotiated mainly between the ANC and the then-ruling National Party (NP).
The NP abandoned its demand for group rights and settled for a one-person-one-vote democracy, with a Bill of Rights that was supposed to implicitly protect group rights. The ANC had to abandon its notion of nationalising all land, mines and banks and accept a market economy.
Afrikaner groups sceptical that the Bill of Rights would be sufficient to ensure their nation’s survival in Africa could have derailed the entire agreement.
Consequently, a process was followed that resulted in Section 235 of the 1996 Constitution, which recognises a section of the population’s right to self-determination and legalises its realisation.
It is no secret that the ANC made this concession reluctantly and has ignored it as far as possible since coming into power.
The MK, which presents itself as a party that wants to complete the “unfinished revolution” of 1994, therefore has both landownership and self-determination in its crosshairs.
Public submissions on Section 235 can already be sent to speaker@parliament.gov.za. The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) and other major institutions will participate in the process, and strongly encourage the public and every possible association and organisation to do the same.
In the analysis of public participation, every submission is counted as either for or against a particular proposal. Even if a single submission against the Bill contains the work of numerous experts and spans hundreds of well-formulated pages, it counts as only one submission.
On the other hand, a thousand submissions of just one sentence in favour of the Bill will result in an outcome of a thousand to one. So, every single submission is important.
The Freedom Front Plus does not believe that the MK will succeed, but it is still necessary to do all one can.
