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Chapter 3 - Constitutional Populism in South Africa

from I - Populisms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 March 2022

By
Theunis Roux
Edited by
Martin Krygier ,
Adam Czarnota  and
Wojciech Sadurski
Martin Krygier
Affiliation:
University of New South Wales, Sydney
Adam Czarnota
Affiliation:
University of New South Wales, Sydney
Wojciech Sadurski
Affiliation:
University of Sydney
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Summary

On 13 December 2019, South Africa’s Parliament published a notice inviting public comment on a proposed amendment to that country’s celebrated 1996 Constitution.1 In seven tersely worded pages, the explanatory memorandum sets out the need for a change to section 25 – the property clause. If adopted,2 the amendment would add a provision stipulating that a court, ‘where land and any improvements thereon are expropriated for the purposes of land reform’, may determine that the compensation payable is ‘nil’. In addition, Parliament, rather than the judiciary, would be given the authority to specify the circumstances in which this kind of determination could be made.

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Chapter
Information
Anti-Constitutional Populism , pp. 99 - 137
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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