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Deputy President David Mabuza must withdraw the statement that he made in Parliament yesterday where he appeared to insinuate that landowners whose land has been identified for land restitution could potentially lose it through expropriation without compensation.

While answering oral questions in the National Assembly yesterday afternoon, Mabuza made the shocking claim that "the land that is in question for expropriation is restituted land because that land has been claimed by a particular claimant".

If Mabuza’s announcement is now official government policy, it is an unbridled attack on the constitutional right of the current landowner to have their land expropriated with just and equitable compensation.

For landowners who are currently facing uncertainty about their future as a result of the ANC’s ill-advised pursuit of the Expropriation Bill and amendment to Section 25 of the Constitution, this announcement revealed the true intentions of a government that has declared war on property rights. The DA will not allow this subversion of the Constitution to stand.

In its blind pursuit to force through these disastrous Bills, the ANC has become a wrecking ball against the very foundations against which our constitutional democracy is founded. For a Deputy President to stand on the Parliament podium and make proclamations on Bills that are yet to be passed, is not only dangerous but shows how out of touch the ANC is on the direct implications of these Bills on the economy.

Mabuza must withdraw his statement. He is constitutionally obliged to do so.

Issued by The DA