Issued by the FW de Klerk Foundation 19/03/2024 

On Tuesday, 19 March 2024, Parliament’s second house, the National Council of Provinces (“NCOP”), passed a changed version of the Expropriation Bill during its plenary. The Bill allows for expropriation without compensation (“EWC”).

This is despite the fact that Parliament rejected the Constitution Eighteenth Amendment Bill (B18-2021) in December 2021. This amendment of the Constitution aimed at changing section 25 of the Constitution to expressly allow for EWC.

The NCOP did propose to Parliament’s first house, the National Assembly (“NA”), that it make certain changes to the Bill. However, none of these amendments proposed removing the EWC provisions from the Bill or remedying the serious constitutional concerns surrounding the Bill.

“Given that the Constitution, South Africa’s supreme law, has specifically not been amended to allow for EWC, should the Expropriation Bill be signed into law by the President, it can be challenged for being inconsistent with the Constitution (i.e. unconstitutional),” says Daniela Ellerbeck, Constitutional Programmes Manager at the FW de Klerk Foundation.

“Property rights lay the foundation for wealth creation and should be strengthened and expanded rather than diluted,” says Christo van der Rheede, Executive Director of the FW de Klerk Foundation.

The NA will now consider the amended Bill, which they can either accept or reject. If the NA accepts the changed Bill, it will go to the President for assent.