The President of South Africa, and of the African National Congress (ANC), Cyril Ramaphosa, was too hasty with his announcement in support for Constitutional amendments allowing for land expropriation without compensation.

This is according to a report by Afrikaans Sunday newspaper, Rapport. According to the front-page article, the ANC has been knocked back after the parliamentary committee on public land hearings has brought up the issue of written submission.

Written submissions versus public debate

Earlier this year, parliament sought to conduct a public survey regarding the necessity and sustainability for land expropriation without compensation.

The multi-party committee tasked with conducting this public research process was dominated by ANC officials, who are now in hot water for focusing too much of their time and attention on the public hearings.

When it was first asked if the ANC had not flouted the parliamentary process regarding the public survey, the ANC’s subcommittee on economic transformation chairman, Enoch Godongwana, said:

“We are recognising that, that process we’re meeting at the tail end of, that process and clearly the implications of that are suggestions that most of our people favour the route we’re taking. And therefore as a political party, we will contribute, like all other political parties, to this process. That’s our contribution to this discourse in parliament we’re not undermining parliament.”

According to the report, the public hearings roadshow, which started earlier in the year, and ended in the Western Cape this month, was not as comprehensive and definitive as the ANC would like the general public to believe.

The big surprise for the ANC came in the form of written submissions – a total of 700 000 written submissions were collected before the end of June. These written submissions are an integral part of the public process, as important as the provincial hearings.

In comparison, the public hearings process attracted 24 000 people, only 2 700 of them officially offering oral submissions on the issue of land expropriation without compensation.

Land expropriation: ANC underestimated public opinion

The biggest problem for the ANC, is that while most submissions gathered during the public hearings process were in agreement with the idea of and expropriation without compensation – the majority of the 700 000 written submissions are opposed to the planned Constitutional amendment.

It would appear that the ANC has failed to take this into account, building their entire rhetoric purely on oral submissions received during the public hearings process.

In fact, so worried is the ANC about the joint constitutional review committee’s findings – it’s been rumoured that the national party would attempt to reopen the window allowing for further written submissions, in the hopes to swing the numbers.

Vincent Smith, the ANC MP who is also the chairman of the committee, has maintained that such a reopening would not be allowed, as it would undermine the parliamentary process.

The only way the review committee could be forced to reopen the written submission process is by a Constitutional Court order.