Die omstrede ondertekening van die Onteieningswet wat voor die Mei 2024 verkiesing deur die ANC deur die parlement geboelie is, is soos die soortgelyke ondertekening van die BELA-wet en die verwagte inwerktreding van die NGV-wet, verdoemend vir vertroue in die RNE, beleggersvertroue en ekonomiese herstel. Boere is ontsteld daaroor.
Elke land het ‘n Onteieningswet. Die probleem met die een wat President Ramaphosa nou afgeteken het, is dat dit grondeienaars en ander beleggers uitlewer aan korrupte amptenare wat oor die 30 jaar van kaderontplooing ‘n reputasie van stroping, misbruik en nepotisme opgebou het, wat nie nou meteens gaan verander nie. Die wet gee wye onteieningsmagte aan provinsiale en plaaslike owerhede, waar korrupsie, wanadministrasie en nepotisme die ergste is.
Dit brei die toepassing van onteiening ook uit van ‘n openbare doel, soos om paaie, spore of kraglyne te bou, na openbare belang, soos grondhervorming, herverdeling van bates gegrond op velkleur en die eng ideologiese belange waarvoor die ANC en EFF wêreldwyd berug geword het.
Boere wat vir grondhervorming onteien word, moet uit hulle eie sak in die howe teen korrupte amptenare baklei, wat geen perke het aan toegang tot belastingbetalers se geld nie. Saai het duur ervaring van hofsake waarin die staat deur die howe gekasty is vir wanadministrasie en misbruik, maar wat tot geen gevolge vir korrupte kaders in staatsdepartemente lei nie.
Saai het sy ontstaan te danke aan die 2018-hofsaak wat saam met ander vennote gevoer is, teen die onteiening van Akkerland in Limpopo, waar ‘n bestraffende kostebevel teen minister Thoko Didiza, die grondeisekommisaris en die registrateur van aktes gegee is. Die saak het juis uitgewys hoe kwesbaar individuele grondeienaars aan die grille en giere van korrupte amptenare is.
Verlede week het Saai ‘n vierde oorwinning oor die Departement van Grondhervorming en Landelike Ontwikkeling behaal, ook met ‘n bestraffende kostebevel omdat hulle hofbevele ignoreer wat hulle dwing om ‘n finale lys van die 1998 grondeise in die openbare domein te plaas.
Lede van Saai, wat ook begunstigdes van die herverdelingsprogram is, is in Ermelo, Tzaneen en die Oos-Kaap van hulle plase afgeskop om vir polities goed gekonnekteerde stadsraadslede die plase te gee. Dit verg telkens ‘n hofsaak om die vergrype te sluit, en op sy eie is min boere in staat om die las daarvan te dra.
Daarom is die ondertekening van die nuwe Onteieningswet slegte nuus vir elke boer, vir beleggersvertroue, vir die RNE en vir Suid-Afrika.
President Ramaphosa praat alweer regs by Davos, maar loop links.
Bad News
The controversial signing of the Expropriation Bill, bulldozed through Parliament by the ANC ahead of the May 2024 elections, is like the signing of the BELA Act and the expected implementation of the NHI Act, devastating for investors confidence, trust in the GNU, and economic recovery. Farmers are deeply upset about it.
Every country has an Expropriation Act. The problem with the one President Ramaphosa has now signed is that it exposes landowners and other investors to corrupt officials who, over 30 years of cadre deployment, have built a reputation for plundering, abuse, and nepotism—traits that won’t suddenly disappear.
The Act grants wide expropriation powers to provincial and local authorities, where corruption, maladministration, and nepotism are at their worst.
It also extends the application of expropriation from public purposes, such as building roads, railways, or power lines, to public interest, such as land reform, redistribution of assets based on race, and the narrow ideological interests for which the ANC and EFF have become notorious worldwide.
Farmers whose land is expropriated for land reform will have to fight corrupt officials in court at their own expense, while these officials have unlimited access to taxpayers' money. Saai has costly experience in court cases where the state has been reprimanded by the courts for maladministration and abuse, yet with no consequences for the corrupt cadres in government departments.
Saai was founded after the 2018 court case, fought alongside other partners, against the expropriation of Akkerland in Limpopo. This case resulted in a punitive cost order against Minister Thoko Didiza, the land claims commissioner, and the registrar of deeds. The case highlighted how vulnerable individual landowners are to the whims of corrupt officials.
Last week, Saai secured a fourth victory against the Department of Land Reform and Rural Development, again with a punitive cost order, as they ignored court orders compelling them to release a final list of the 1998 land claims into the public domain.
Saai members, some of whom are also beneficiaries of the redistribution program, have been forcibly removed from their farms in Ermelo, Tzaneen and the Eastern Cape to make way for politically well-connected municipal council members. It always takes a court case to stop these abuses, and very few farmers can shoulder the burden of such litigation alone.
This is why the signing of the new Expropriation Bill is bad news for every farmer, for investor confidence, for the rule of law, and for South Africa.
President Ramaphosa talks right at Davos, but walks left back at home.
