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Kwanalu

Kwanalu Land Desk: By John Flanagan

Despite many frustrations over the last period in terms of implementation of Labour tenant settlements, ongoing misinformation, and at times the Department acting cross purposes to their own aims, we have reason to celebrate.

 

This week, the proposed changes to amend the Constitution, specifically in terms of section 25 which was seeking to simply expropriate without compensation, was not adopted in parliament. This means that for the time being the discussion of expropriation at a constitutional level is closed.

 

Interestingly a political party, prior to the debate, released a statement to the extent that regardless of the outcome of the debate, and whether the constitutional changes progress or not, that this was only one step on the road of land reform. The implication is that the proposed changes to the expropriation act will be pushed harder to deliver a more ‘pro’ expropriation outcome.

 

Kwanalu, together with our partners, will be watching and contributing to this process closely as we have in the past, and we can rest assured that any of these changes can be tested against a sound constitution!

 

Another positive outcome from the debate in Parliament was that there was increased pressure placed on the poor performance of the Department to date. We hope that this will turn into some momentum for service delivery in this space. Our work on land issues continues, but we believe that we are making progress to make a more sustainable agricultural industry in the province.