ANC overplays its hand on land with attempted power grab

The Zuma/Magashule grouping in the ANC has painted itself into a corner on the land issue by scoring a Pyrrhic victory in the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) last weekend – an attempted ANC executive power grab which has left it isolated, stranded and searching for allies.

What seemed a rare victory for the anti-Ramaphosa grouping, turned out to be a harsh reminder to the ruling party that when days are dark, friends are few – and above all that it needs at least one of the two biggest opposition parties – the DA or the EFF – to vote with it if any constitutional change is going to happen.

‘Fair and just’ compensation could be zero

At the ANC NEC meeting, it was decided that the ANC position on the wording of the amendment of section 25 of the Constitution (the property clause) would not only be to explicitly add that fair and just compensation for expropriated land could be zero, but also to hand the power to decide on the value of the land — should there be a difference of opinion between the landowner and the state — to the minister of rural development and land reform, instead of the courts, where such power currently resides.

Veteran ANC MP and chairperson of the parliamentary ad hoc committee to amend section 25, Dr Mathole Motshekga, has attempted to rally support for the ANC’s new position, claiming the electorate empowers the government to take such decisions on behalf of the people, and blaming the courts for the slow pace of land reform (whereas empirical research has fingered the ineptitude and corruption of successive ANC governments).

ANC ruse achieves the seemingly impossible

But this latest ANC ruse has thus far achieved what had seemed impossible – uniting the DA, EFF, IFP, Freedom Front Plus, ACDP and COPE on the land question. They may not be united on what they want, but they are absolutely resolute on what they oppose, namely ANC politicians deciding on the value of land.

The capitalist opposition (DA, IFP, Freedom Front Plus, ACDP and COPE) are dead against any change to the Constitution, as DA MP Dr Annelie Lotriet made clear again this week.

She also pointed out that the mandate of the ad hoc committee was only ever to make explicit what is implicit in the Constitution, whereas the new ANC proposal represents a drastic change, moving way beyond the mandate.

EFF slams Motshekga’s efforts

EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu was scathing of Motshekga’s efforts. Like Lotriet, he pointed out that deciding who would arbitrate on the value of land was not part of the committee’s mandate.

Shivambu reiterated that the EFF would only support a constitutional change which is in line with its first non-negotiable pillar of policy – to declare the state to be the custodian of all land, licensing prospective farmers to till the soil for a limited period (the proposed period is 25 years), farming a crop or animals which the state concurs with, and gaining the option to do so for another fixed period if they farm successfully.

Threat of Zimbabwean-style land invasions

Motshekga has since claimed that the ANC is not trying to usurp the powers of the court as arbiter, saying that if anyone was unhappy with the minister’s ruling, they still had recourse to the courts.

He claimed the minister would just be a so much faster route, and threatened Zimbabwean-style land invasions should the land reform process remain slow.

The DA’s Lotriet pointed out that Motshekga was being disingenuous at best, because in practice a landowner who had just been deprived of his/her land (probably his/her greatest single asset), would hardly be in a position to start costly legal proceedings against the deep pockets of the state to overturn an official decision.

Barrel of defeat: ANC bereft of allies

With the ANC bereft of allies, the governing party stares down the barrel of defeat on this issue which its Nasrec conference had commanded it to finalise.

In order to change the Constitution, the ANC needs two thirds of the National Assembly to support any amendment. But the ANC only has 57.5% of the seats, which means it needs either the DA or the EFF, or both, to support whatever its final proposal is for it to be successful.

The attempted ANC power grab with its proposed sweeping new ministerial powers was a shortlived victory indeed for the Zuma/Magashule camp. Their plan is doomed to fail, and they’ll have to negotiate with humility to reach an agreeable compromise with either or both of their strongest opponents, or there will be no constitutional change at all. 

Things might yet change, but as it stands its greed has cost the ANC dearly.