Parliament� The Portfolio Committee on Public Works today met and officially resolved, in accordance with Joint Rule 208 (2), to reject (withdraw) the Expropriation Bill [B4D of 2015] so that it may be re-introduced at a later stage.

The committee also wants to give an opportunity to the Joint Constitutional Review Committee that is currently reviewing whether section 25 of the Constitution should be amended to allow expropriation of land without compensation. The committee has observed that the work of the Joint Constitutional Review Committee is now approaching a conclusion and the recommendations are soon to be made available once concluded before the end of September, which will lead to new parliamentary processes, including legislative processes, and new directions should become clearer before the end of 2018.

The committee is aware that this process will lead to the Minister of Public Works re-introducing a revised Expropriation Bill that will possibly include clauses that deal with expropriation of land without compensation. That Bill will give more clarity on how South Africans should deal with the land question and the property issues that today still favour the minority at the expense of the majority of South Africans, in particular black people.

The committee is of the view that rejecting this Bill in its current form will assist and avoid running a parallel process while there is a committee of Parliament that is still busy with the possible reviewable of section 25 of the Constitution. The committee is happy and hopes for a better piece of legislation that will include the inputs from South Africans across the country on the land and property question.

The committee has adopted a report that recommends to the National Assembly that the current Expropriation Bill be rejected. The Chairperson of the committee, Mr Humphrey Mmemezi, believes that the National Assembly might deal with this matter as soon as next week.

Source: Parliament of the Republic of South Africa