Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma calls for ’clever’ lobbying if the ANC wants to amend the Constitution to allow expropriation of land without compensation
The ANC must "be clever" about lobbying other parties if it wants to amend the Constitution to allow for expropriation of land without compensation, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma told a gathering of students at Wits University on Wednesday.
The land reform debate is gaining momentum in the ANC and more broadly, with pressure to scrap what many believe is the obstacle to redistribution.
Dlamini-Zuma said she did not want to elaborate on land as much had been said, "but you can’t have the majority of people in the country not having access to land. It’s not sustainable.
"We need to find a way of moving forward, for instance, at the ANC’s policy conference."
In response to questions from the audience on whether the Constitution should be amended, Dlamini-Zuma said those who wanted to change the Constitution would have to persuade society and political parties that it was necessary as it could not be done without them.
"Constitutions are made at a particular point in time and where you find there are problems you amend them. In SA, if we feel a part — for instance, on land — is not assisting us, it needs to be amended.
"But to amend the Constitution you need a two-thirds vote in Parliament. So if you want to amend the Constitution you must persuade society first, because the political parties in Parliament represent society."
In February, when the matter was last debated in Parliament, the EFF again offered its 6% in the National Assembly to add to the ANC’s 62% in order to change the land clause in the Constitution.
The ANC did not take up the offer, resulting in criticism of ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu by some hardliners in the party.
Days later President Jacob Zuma told an audience
that "black parties should unite" in order to effect changes to
the Constitution.
Other ANC leaders, such as the head of the ANC’s economic transformation committee Enoch Godongwana, argued that land reform had been
held back by a range of factors and the right to expropriate without compensation was not the solution.
The proposed measure is
not included in the ANC’s discussion paper on economic transformation written for the policy conference.
Former African Union Commission chairwoman Dlamini-Zuma was speaking at an event organised by the Development and Leadership Unit at Wits.
Picture: GCIS