South African lawmakers are getting ready to vote to amend the country’s constitution to allow for key land reforms to take place.
The changes to the constitution will allow for land expropriation without compensation.
The reforms are part of series of calls for black South Africans to own back lands reportedly taken away from them by white minority South Africans.
President Cyril Ramaphosa after taking over from former leader, Jacob Zuma made the change to the constitution on the issue a major policy.
But a South African advocacy group is challenging the reforms in court on Thursday. The group fights for the rights of white farmers.
70 percent of farming lands in South Africa are controlled by whites who form nine percent of the 56 million population.
The land issue is at the centre of South Africa’s racial inequality underpinning the apartheid regime and has not disappeared yet even after the end of apartheid.
After the apartheid the ANC government followed a policy that allows for white land owners to willingly sell their lands to the government which then redistributes to blacks.
But the government wants to end that system of a “willing-seller, willing-buyer” model. A parliamentary committee report has backed recommendations to change the constitution.
Afriforum, the advocacy group that mostly represents white Afrikaners, is questioning the legality of this decision.
Reuters quoted Willie Spies, Afriforum’s attorney as saying that “We want the court to refer the report back to the committee and to request the committee to repair the wrongs.”
Public hearings on land expropriation without compensation have been held across South Africa. Majority of South Africans are in support of the reforms, local media reports.
Source: Africafeeds.com
