The Free Market Foundation (FMF) has said that the Democratic Alliance (DA) had only one role to play regarding the new Expropriation Act, which is “unconditional and unrelenting opposition”, but with the formation of the GNU, FMF said the party has allowed itself to be ideologically co-opted and has betrayed liberals.

Martin van Staden, Head of Policy at the FMF, said in a statement issued on Tuesday that the DA has charted a different course, skirting around the act's fundamental constitutional, economic, and moral deficiencies and focusing instead on some peripheral formalities.

“This is a weak — and failed — attempt to show its constituency that it is still “against” the Expropriation Act while protecting its position in the government of national unity (GNU).

“Liberalism’s value proposition is simple: individuals and communities — society — must chart their course. The state must secure society against coercion directed at people or their property. Beyond this, the state must be severely limited by constitutional law so it cannot utilise its incredible power to deprive society of civil liberty or property.

“Since the establishment of the Progressive Party in 1959, followed by the Progressive Reform Party, Progressive Federal Party, the Democratic Party, and finally the DA, the DA has been the foremost representative of this political ideology in SA. However, with the formation of the GNU, the party has allowed itself to be ideologically co-opted.”

Van Staden added that co-option does not always mean sharing the precise philosophical imperatives of the co-opted, arguing that the DA is not yet a Marxist-Leninist party such as the ANC.

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“US President Donald Trump, in his usual unrefined fashion, did SA an excellent service by speaking out in favour of property ownership. He pointed out that property confiscation is now law in SA, that a class of people in SA — property owners — is being badly mistreated, and that this amounts to a human rights violation. On all counts, like him or not, Trump is right.

“And yet the DA, among the regime’s usual cheerleaders in the media and academia, felt compelled to condemn Trump for speaking the truth rather than condemn Parliament and President Cyril Ramaphosa for adopting the kinds of policies that have turned relatively prosperous societies such as Zimbabwe and Venezuela into humanitarian disasters and basket cases," he said.

The FMF said the DA has been advised repeatedly and in excruciating detail about the constitutional and constitutionalist errors in the Expropriation Act.

“Truthfully, this should have been the final “red line” for the GNU…

“It is a betrayal that liberals and those who understand the key role property rights play in safeguarding freedom and democracy and creating the conditions for prosperity should not soon forgive the party for. The DA was supposed to be part of the solution, not part of the problem,” read the FMF statement.

Approached for comment, the DA dismissed the FMF statement alleging the party has been co-opted by the ANC and betrayed its supporters on the Expropriation Act.

The party’s national spokesperson, Karabo Khakhau, said she is unsure what informed the FMF statement before dismissing it as “baseless".

“Anyone with their finger on the pulse of South African politics would know that the DA has submitted court papers challenging the Act.

“We are fundamentally opposed to the Act, in principle, because it opens the door to potential abuse through expropriation without compensation, which threatens property rights. Section 12 of the Act is particularly problematic.

“Our legal advice is that the best chance of getting a straightforward victory is to tackle the patently unconstitutional process by which it was passed.

Khakhau mentioned that even if the FMF had fundamental constitutional objections to a piece of legislation, the best court strategy would provide the best chance of victory.

thabo.makwakwa@inl.co.za

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