Saai takes expropriation without compensation abroad

The ANC’s latest move to change the whole property clause (section 25) of the Constitution was anticipated and as such comes as no surprise. The ANC has never been honest in its pursuit to change the Constitution, just as it has not been honest in acting against state capture, looting or corruption amongst its cadres.

At Saai, our network for family farmers, we have been warned by various foreign governments and journalists that the ANC has much more up its sleeve than merely an innocent effort to allow for expropriation without compensation, to make clear what is already being provided for in section 25(3).

The dishonesty of the ANC is clear in its intention to undermine the supremacy of the law, and as such to undermine the rule of law by now trying to limit the powers of the courts by attempting to implement expropriation without compensation.

The fundamental dishonesty also transpires in the way the chairman of the expropriation committee is changing both the aim and the scope of the investigation into the proposed changes by moving way outside the ambit of the procedures of parliament or the law to focus on the whole section 25.

From discussions with embassies and foreign governments it is clear that the way the committee has dealt with the public participation programme has raised massive suspicions already when the committee unilaterally decided to ignore all written submissions. Written inputs were not only the majority of submissions, but also came mostly from investors, the business community, professional people and employers, while the oral submissions came from mostly anonymous people bussed in from somewhere to obscure venues far from city centres and hard for business owners to access.

It is not only South Africans who noticed the intention to make it as difficult as possible for the investor/employer community to attend the hearings, and those who did manage to attend were often denied the opportunity to take the floor.

Mathole Motshekga often quotes the public hearings as if it was a referendum, whilst both the ANC and the EFF brought busses full of strangers into the hearings who mostly didn’t know what the meetings were about, and who were told before what to say. Way too often these T-shirt gangs didn’t conduct themselves in a civilised manner, yelling and screaming slogans when anyone who took a position against expropriation without compensation took the floor. The parliamentarians didn’t bother to protect those who spoke for the rule of law or the Universal Declaration of Human rights, and allowed hooligans to act in the disorderly way, which has become the hallmark of ANC and EFF political activity.

2021 is an election year and the ANC has nothing to woo voters. It has destroyed virtually all SOEs and service delivery capacity in government. It has ruined the economy and its cadres have stolen and looted our country to bankruptcy. It has no better option than to pursue populist politics such as land grabbing similar to what ZANU-PF has done in Zimbabwe since 2000.

In one aspect Motshekga was right, when he was quoted as saying that the ANC and its leaders don’t have a monopoly on wisdom and that they need to listen to the people. He should take a page from the Zimbabwean book and listen to the banks, investors, employers and businesses. He has no scientific or moral reason to believe that expropriation without compensation will cost South Africa less than the damning cost it has had in Zimbabwe.

Saai firmly believes that the ANC is depriving half of all South Africans of their commitment to and respect for our Constitution. Once the ANC has its way with the Constitution, there will be no motivation for non-communists to embrace it.

Saai has written letters to most of the embassies in South Africa to inform them of the ANC’s intentions, and to raise awareness of how the ANC’s agenda is in contradiction to Article 17 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The support of their governments is solicited for action against the ANC at the United Nations.