/ 12 March 2018

DA leader Mmusi Maimane to state the party’s position on land

DA leader Mmusi Maimane will now elucidate his party's views on the land debate.
DA leader Mmusi Maimane will now elucidate his party's views on the land debate.

DA leader Mmusi Maimane and the party’s shadow minister on rural development and land reform Thandeka Mbabama will set out the DA’s position on land reform on Monday.

The leader of the opposition is expected to speak about the party’s land reform policy at the Old Fort at Constitution Hill on Monday.

This comes after the party faced criticism on Sunday for an SMS it had been sending out to the public to encourage people to register to vote this past weekend.

The SMS reads: “ANC & EFF working together to take all private land and homes. You can only stop this if you’re registered correctly to vote! Check now.”

The DA will speak about its land policy after major developments in recent weeks over land expropriation without compensation.

Parliament passed a motion last month to start a process to amend the Constitution so as to allow for the expropriation of land without compensation.

The motion was brought by the EFF leader Julius Malema and was adopted with a vote of 241 in support, and 83 against.

The only parties who did not support the motion were the DA, Freedom Front Plus, Cope and the ACDP.

Parliament’s Constitutional Review Committee will now consider whether to amend the Constitution to allow for the expropriation of land without compensation and how it will be done.

The DA’s Shadow Minister of Communications Phumzile van Damme tweeted about the party’s land policy as well as criticism about the EFF’s land policy on Sunday.

“Suspect very few actually know the EFF’s policy on land. Read. Inform yourself beyond populist soundbites. EFF wants the state to expropriate ALL land, including from black landowners & for everyone to rent from the state in a form of feudalism. All will be serfs of the state,” she tweeted.