{"id":840330,"date":"2025-10-19T10:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T08:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=840330"},"modified":"2025-10-19T10:28:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T08:28:12","slug":"cyril-ramaphosa-admits-expropriation-act-is-unconstitutional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/840330\/cyril-ramaphosa-admits-expropriation-act-is-unconstitutional\/","title":{"rendered":"Cyril Ramaphosa admits Expropriation Act is unconstitutional"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

President Cyril Ramaphosa has admitted under oath that Sections 19(2), (3) and (4) of the new Expropriation Act are unconstitutional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is because they \u201cin error\u201d provide that expropriation can take place before the landowner can challenge the matter in court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramaphosa also admitted that these sections may \u201crender the provisions void for vagueness\u201d and contradict other sections of the Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This admission is contained in Ramaphosa\u2019s answering affidavit in a court case about the Expropriation Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AfriForum and other parties are seeking to have the Expropriation Act declared unconstitutional in the Cape Town High Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his affidavit, Ramaphosa asked the court to \u201cremedy the unconstitutionality\u201d of the article by \u201creading in\u201d amendments to the articles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the replying affidavit, Kallie Kriel, CEO of AfriForum, \u200b\u200bwelcomed Ramaphosa\u2019s acknowledgement that parts of the Expropriation Act are unconstitutional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Kriel argues that, due to the extent of the amendments proposed by Ramaphosa, the courts are not in a position to amend the legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the task of parliament. Ramaphosa should have asked parliament to correct the unconstitutionalities before he signed the bill into law on 20 December 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Kriel\u2019s affidavit, AfriForum argues that the court should declare the Expropriation Act unconstitutional in its entirety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alternatively, the unconstitutional parts thereof should be referred back to parliament to make amendments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRamaphosa\u2019s admissions confirm that he and the ANC have been telling lies by dismissing concerns about the unconstitutionality of the Expropriation Act,\u201d Kriel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Kriel, Ramaphosa must be held personally responsible for the negative consequences of his signing of the Expropriation Act on the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWithin 10 days of Ramaphosa announcing that he had signed the Expropriation Act, President Donald Trump announced that he would be imposing punitive measures against South Africa,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is, therefore, a direct link between Ramaphosa\u2019s reckless signing of the Expropriation Act and the US\u2019s actions against South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAny job losses and growing poverty that result from this must, therefore, be laid directly at the door of Ramaphosa and other ANC leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Expropriation Act unconstitutional<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Afriforum CEO Kallie Kriel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In a letter to Ramaphosa on 15 April 2024, AfriForum officially requested the President to refer the Expropriation Act back to parliament, as it was unconstitutional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlthough the President knew that this Act was unconstitutional, he ignored the requests of AfriForum and others,\u201d Kriel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis was because he mistakenly thought that it would aid the ANC in regaining lost support in the election.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRamaphosa was therefore prepared to sacrifice the interests of the country and its citizens for the sake of his own and the ANC\u2019s party-political interests.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kriel maintained that Ramaphosa attempted to mislead the court in his affidavit by claiming that the Government Printing Works was closed over the festive season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRamaphosa made this misrepresentation to try to justify why the Act, which he had already signed in secret on 20 December 2024,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Expropriation Act was only published in the Government Gazette 35 days later, on 24 January 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of Section 80 of the Constitution, one-third of members of parliament can refer an Act to the Constitutional Court for review within 30 days of signing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramaphosa\u2019s secret signing of the Act therefore deprived members of parliament of this constitutional right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kriel expressed concern that Ramaphosa continued to argue that Section 12(3) of the Expropriation Act, which allows for expropriation without compensation, is not unconstitutional.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kriel said AfriForum will fight the Expropriation Act in the interest of the country all the way to the highest court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Cyril Ramaphosa has admitted under oath that Sections 19(2), (3) and (4) of the new Expropriation Act are unconstitutional.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":817703,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[2419,23843,1293,21717],"class_list":["post-840330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-afriforum","tag-cape-town-high-court","tag-cyril-ramaphosa","tag-expropriation-act"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=840330"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":840332,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840330\/revisions\/840332"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/817703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=840330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}