Helen Zille, leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA), has filed a legal challenge against South Africa's recently signed Expropriation Act, arguing it violates both procedural and substantive constitutional provisions. She criticizes the Act's broad scope and its potential to undermine property rights, drawing parallels to the apartheid era's land dispossession.
Helen Zille , the leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA), has condemned the recently signed Expropriation Act , asserting that it is both substantively and procedurally unconstitutional. Zille stated that the DA firmly rejected the Act during the sixth administration, believing that no democratic government should possess such expansive powers to expropriate property without compensation.
She drew parallels to the apartheid government's use of similar powers to forcibly displace communities from their land, often with inadequate or nonexistent compensation. Zille emphasized that history demonstrates that true redress necessitates safeguarding property rights and preventing any government from acquiring unchecked expropriation authority. The DA has lodged a legal challenge in the Western Cape High Court, seeking an order to invalidate the Expropriation Act in its current form. Zille accused the presidency of disregarding the counsel of Dean Macpherson, the Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, who provided President Ramaphosa with a legal opinion highlighting constitutional concerns with the Act. She further contended that the Act's substance aligns with the ANC's 2017 elective conference mandate to incorporate expropriation without compensation as a legal instrument. Zille characterized the Act as a blunt instrument of ANC majoritarianism following the DA's successful opposition to amending Section 25 of the Constitution to enable expropriation without compensation.She criticized the ANC for attempting to expand its expropriation powers beyond justifiable circumstances, such as the development of infrastructure like roads, railways, and dams. Zille argued that while every nation has legislation permitting the state to acquire property for public purposes with fair compensation, this Act transgresses accepted international norms. She accused the ANC of aiming to drastically broaden the scope of expropriation and perpetuate the possibility of land restitution indefinitely. Zille highlighted the constraints imposed by the ANC's coalition agreement with the DA, stating that they cannot unilaterally implement resolutions from ANC elective conferences while sharing power. She asserted that the DA will not tolerate the ANC acting as if they hold a majority despite being part of a coalition government
Expropriation Act Democratic Alliance Helen Zille Constitutional Challenge ANC Property Rights
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