The steamrolling of the Expropriation Bill through parliament has been temporarily halted, according to TAU SA. “The Bill has by no means been thrown out, but I think TAU SA’s senior legal counsel in the parliamentary hearings made some very good arguments that couldn’t be ignored,” said TAU SA general manager Bennie van Zyl.
He speculated that changes were being made to the Bill, and hoped that TAU SA’s warnings about threats to food security and foreign investment had been heeded. But Agri SA’s parliamentary liaison Annelize Crosby said it may be premature to read anything into the suspension of debate because parliament was in recess until the end of July. “Things could still change as the portfolio committee did not finalise discussions by the 27 June deadline,” she said.
“The committee could, in fact, be rethinking certain clauses because opposition to the Bill was more vocal than anticipated.” But Democratic Alliance MP Andries Botha, who sits as an alternative member on the portfolio committee, said that parliament’s adoption of the Bill had been scheduled for 1 August.
“But that’s only if all the members of the committee agree on the Bill as it currently stands,” said Botha. “We’ll be sitting for the week of 28 to 31 August, discussing the points made in the public hearings. There is disquiet concerning a large number of issues about this matter from the portfolio committee, so if not everyone can agree the Bill won’t be adopted.” Botha did, however, say that if it managed to go through parliament the Constitutional Court would be asked to test the Bill’s constitutionality. – David Steynberg
