Parliamentary work has come to a halt on the highly contested Expropriation Bill, and although there has not been an announcement, the hold-up seems to lie with Parliament’s own legal advisers.
There was, until the beginning of this week, some haste for the public works committee to finish work on the Bill in order to give the Bill a fair wind through the National Council of Provinces. That haste now has evaporated.
The legal problem with the Bill arises from the conflict with the Constitution posed by the specific prevention of any appeal to the courts. The Bill requires the minister to be the final arbiter of the price paid for expropriated property. It rules out going to court as a last resort.
However, in the Bill of Rights, section 34 of the Constitution says: ”Everyone has a right to have any dispute that can be resolved by the application of law decided in a fair public hearing before a court or, where appropriate, another independent and impartial tribunal or forum.”
One of the principal opponents of the Bill, Maans Nel, who speaks for the Democratic Alliance on land affairs, wrote this week to the speaker, drawing her attention to the advice on this matter from Parliament’s own advisers and asking her to halt the Bill.
No doubt the problem can quickly be resolved and the Bill will resume its progress after the recess, which began on Friday. — I-Net Bridge