LETTER: ANC fails land reform
THE thrust of Basil Cele’s article (Our laws let the settler elite off the hook, November 3) rests on the oft-repeated but patently false assertion that “our Constitution’s protection of property rights has undermined what could have been a robust land redistribution programme”.
In addition to the general limitation of rights contained in section 36 of the Constitution, s25 (2) (a) states that property may be expropriated for a public service or in the public interest; s25(4) (a) specifically provides that the “public interest” includes the nation’s interest in land reform, and s25(2)(b) provides that compensation is by agreement or as decided by a court; and not necessarily at a price arrived at by the willing-seller, willing-buyer technique.
The reason for the failure of land reform is, as usual, African National Congress incompetence and its inability to implement or consistently follow through any policy.
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