Parliament votes to make land expropriation without compensation a reality early next year

The National Assembly wants to settle the issue of amending section 25 of the constitution to allow for land expropriation without compensation by March 31 2019, before the mandate of the current parliament expires.

This is according to a draft motion to be debated on Thursday afternoon, tabled in the name of ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu.

His motion was adopted after it received support from 183 MPs, against 77 who opposed it. The parties that came out against the motion included the DA, COPE, ACDP, FF Plus and the IFP.

The ANC-sponsored motion got support from the EFF, UDM, APC and the NFP.

MPs indicated that they were ready to return to parliament in the second week of January 2019 to start with the work of ad hoc committee.

The tabling of the motion followed the adoption of a constitutional review committee report by both houses of parliament, the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces.

In his draft motion, Mthembu proposed that the house establish an ad hoc committee in terms of rule 253 to initiate and introduce legislation amending section 25 of the constitution.

The draft motion further states that the house "passes a constitutional amendment bill before the end of the fifth democratic parliament in order to allow for expropriation without compensation".

The proposed ad hoc committee would consist of 11 voting MPs, six crom the ANC, two from the DA, one from the EFF and another two representing the smaller parties. It would include another 14 non-voting MPs, with the ANC represented by two in this category, the DA and EFF one each, and 10 coming from the smaller parties.

Editor's Note: This story was updated to reflect the outcome of the vote.