Select Committee gets briefing on Expropriation Bill
The Select Committee on Economic and Business Development received a briefing from the Department of Public Works on the Expropriation Bill.
The Expropriation Bill seeks to ensure consistency with the Constitution and uniformity of the procedure of all expropriations, without interfering with the powers of expropriating authorities.
Briefing the Committee, Deputy Minister of Public Works Mr Jeremy Cronin said: “What has been missing in the Bill is what the Bill of Rights calls for, which is the general law of application describing what would be a constitutionally compliant approach, a clear guide of how to comply with expropriation constitutionally.”
Mr Cronin added, “After many years we have failed to put in place what is required by the Constitution. Then in 2008 the Bill was withdrawn and in my view it was correctly withdrawn. The Bill has been revived to address these shortcomings”.
The review of the Expropriation Act of 1975 became necessary to ensure consistency and provisions of the Constitution in particular the equality clause, property clause, administrative action and extension of the purpose for expropriation to include public interest.
Chairperson of the Committee, Mr Eddie Makue, alluded to the volatile economic situation in the country and asked the department what it would say to investors with regard to the impact of the Bill, especially those who have property and business interests in the country.
The Committee noted that the “willing buyer, willing seller” principle did not work as it had been in place for the past 20 years. Members of the Committee enquired as to how the department planned on dealing with mortgage bonds that will be assessed in respect to qualified valuators who would give correct value of land or properties.
Members of the Committee enquired if there was a correlation in terms of what the Bill sought to achieve in relation to the outstanding land and asset register. The Committee suggested that would it not be better if the department could have concluded the issue around the asset register so that the department could quantify the assets that government has.
For media enquiries or interviews with the Chairperson, please contact:
Yoliswa Landu
Tel: 021 403 8203
Cell: 081 497 4694
E-mail: ylandu@parliament.gov.za
