‘Put your property where your mouth is’

A DEBATE in the legislature on the Expropriation Bill took a dramatic turn yesterday afternoon when Agriculture MEC Ivan Meyer dared any member of the legislature in support of the bill to surrender their properties to the state.

Meyer was responding to the debate brought by leader of the opposition Cameron Dugmore (ANC) on the importance of the amendment to section 25 of the Constitution, and how helpful expropriation without compensation (EWC) would be in addressing the patterns of land ownership in the Western Cape.

“I now call on all members in this House who support EWC, to offer their own properties via the Speaker of this House, by the end of this debate to the national Department of Land Affairs, so that the state becomes the custodian of all your properties,” dared Meyer.

“Let us test your commitment to your statements in support of EWC. Put your money and your property where your mouth is,” Meyer said.

Good party secretary general Brett Herron said: “It is unfortunate that land reform, so urgent and so necessary, has been hijacked as a tool for political gain, by those claiming its being retarded by the constitution, by those who have used the debate to hide their failings, and by those, who claim to be constitutionalists, who have whipped up unnecessary anxiety and fear based on lies,” Herron said.

MPL Peter Marais (FF Plus) said the EWC was a campaign of the ANC and the EFF and only the politically naive would support it. He warned of foreign disinvestment and possible civil unrest if the amendment was passed.