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ANC MP Mathole Motshekga is chairing the ad hoc committee amending Section 25 of the Constitution on Thursday. (Jan Gerber, News24)
- A constitutional amendment to allow expropriation without compensation is not intended to punish anyone, said the chairman of the ad hoc committee amending Section 25, Mathole Motshekga.
- This after AgriSA expressed its concern about it.
- It was one of the organizations that presented their views on the amendment to the commission, a process that will continue on Wednesday.
Changing the Constitution to allow expropriation without compensation is not intended to punish anyone, but rather to address historical injustices, said the chairman of the ad hoc committee working on such an amendment, Mathole Motshekga.
On Tuesday, the committee heard oral presentations from organizations, including AgriSA, which represents several farmers’ unions.
The organization opposes amending the Constitution to allow expropriation without compensation, but is in favor of agrarian reform.
Concluding his presentation, AgriSA CEO Christo van der Rheede said: “I want to emphasize that we need to unite as a nation. We need to find a common solution, not one that aims to punish people or destroy the economy, but a which is based on consensus and is encouraging this type of association. “
He added that the biggest challenge was funding.
“We cannot allow this country to move economically in the wrong direction.
“We need to find a way and this is where the agricultural sector has done a lot of good to build the economy and ensure that there is food on the table. But we have to find an alternative to an amendment to the Constitution.”
Christo van der Rheede, new executive director of Agri SA. (proceedings)
Van der Rheede said that AgriSA had proposed many solutions, but the setbacks were caused by government departments that did not work together.
Motshekga said: “This process aims for all of us to work together to ensure that we find a South African solution.”
EFF deputy Mbuyiseni Ndlozi asked if AgriSA recognized that farmers benefited from a crime against humanity.
READ ALSO | Mabuza explains how expropriation is part of the government’s agrarian reform program
Van der Rheede said that farmers today provide food, bring in foreign exchange and are responsible for job creation on a massive scale of 800,000 per year.
“We cannot deny what happened in the past, but we need to have a very, very holistic vision to address the social injustices of the past.”
AgriSA’s director of agrarian affairs, Dr. Annelize Crosby, said that it should never be understood that she is opposed to agrarian reform, that her concerns were how it was done and the consequences of the way it was done.
“My understanding, as a constitutional lawyer, has always been that our Constitution is based on the concept of restorative justice. There was never the intention to punish anyone for what happened in the past,” she added.
Crosby said that the cost of land reform must be borne by society and not by the individuals who were punished for past injustices.
Motshekga said: “The process we are embarking on is not intended to punish anyone, but to address historical injustices. Therefore, there is a difference between punishing people and addressing historical injustices.”
The committee will hear more presentations on Wednesday.
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