GOOD party secretary-general Brett Herron. Picture: Armand Hough / Independent Newspapers
THE GOOD Party has challenged Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson to defend the newly-signed Expropriation Bill or call it quits.
This comes after Macpherson took to social media on X on Friday, stating that there will be no expropriation of private property without compensation on his watch.
“The guarantee of property rights under Section 25 of the Constitution is not up for debate and is non-negotiable,” he said.
Macpherson also said in terms of the law, only ministers implement laws and regulations.
“Anyone who claims to speak for the department is just giving an opinion,” he said.
His statement was an apparent response to Deputy Minister Sihle Zikalala, who issued a statement soon after the Bill was signed and described it as a “seminal and ground-breaking” signing of the Expropriation Bill.
Zikalala also said the legislation affirmed the role of the stake in unlocking land for socio-economic development and distributive processes, and paved the way for expropriation in the public interest and full alignment with the Constitution.
“This is the legislation that will take South Africa in reality on the path of economic transformation and inclusive growth.”
Zikalala said the signing of the Bill was a culmination of the long history waged by the forebears against the dispossession of the majority of blacks through the 1913 Land Act and the Group Areas Act.
“We will use the newly promulgated legislation to enhance the delivery of infrastructure development programme, industrialisation and agricultural reform that improves food security,” he added.
On Friday, GOOD Party secretary-general Brett Herron said his party was shocked that Macpherson took to social media, X to post “there will be NO expropriation of private property without compensation on my watch” and referred to the property rights clause in the constitution as being not negotiable.
Herron said expropriating land without compensation was not new and the Section 25 of the Constitution Macpherson quoted provided for nil compensation in circumstances in which it is just and equitable.
“As the minister, he is the custodian of this law. If he has a personal conflict and is unable to fulfil his duties, he must resign,” he said.
Herron said despite Macpherson’s party, the DA announcing it would mount a court challenge over the Bill, the minister will be cited as a respondent in any legal challenge going forward.
“As a public office bearer, he does not have the luxury of exercising personal preferences. He has a responsibility to the people of South Africa to defend the law’s constitutionality.”
Herron accused the critics of the Expropriation Bill of using a dishonest and inflammatory narrative for self-gain.
“This law does not allow for the arbitrary expropriation of land, it articulates the circumstances under which nil compensation would be just and equitable
“Twenty-three years ago, the Constitutional Court ordered that, ‘No one may be deprived of property except in terms of law of general application, and no law may permit arbitrary deprivation of property’. We support the Expropriation Bill being signed into law.”
Herron also said South Africa needed both the tools and political will to set straight that colonial and apartheid land grabs, the original sin, have been so inadequately addressed by land reform policies since the demise of apartheid.
“If Minister Macpherson does not have the personal or political will to defend this constitutional right, he must resign,” he added.
mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za