For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Lumkile Nkomfe.

Making headlines: DA plans court action over Expropriation Act; AgriSA welcomes signing of Preservation and Development of Agricultural Land Act; And, breakthrough in NHI impasse

DA plans court action over Expropriation Act

The Democratic Alliance said today that while it’s ministers are delivering growth and jobs in their respective portfolios, it continues to push the African National Congress to urgently embrace the economic reforms South Africa desperately needs.

DA leader John Steenhuisen said the party will continue to use GNU structures to mount its opposition to the Expropriation Act, from within government.

This after US president Donald Trump threatened to withdraw aid to South Africa owing to his view that the recently enacted Expropriation Act is leading to the confiscation of land.

Steenhuisen said in response, on Monday, that while there were concerns around the Act, it was not true that it allowed land to be seized arbitrarily by the State as claimed by lobbyists.

Now, Steenhuisen said the Expropriation Act must go back to parliament.

He said the protection of private property rights is the cornerstone of any economy, and that the DA has always supported this and fought hard against any amendment to Section 25 of the Constitution since 2018.

AgriSA welcomes signing of Preservation and Development of Agricultural Land Act

Agricultural organisation AgriSA says it is heartened by President Cyril Ramaphosa’s signing of the Preservation and Development of Agricultural Land Act, which aims to conserve and manage agricultural ecosystems and viable agricultural land units through regulations and the development of norms and standards.

Work in this regard now needs to begin in earnest, the organisation said during the Investing in African Mining Indaba that is under way in Cape Town.

Farmers are extremely concerned about the effects of proliferation of unwanted mining and gas exploration on or in the vicinity of productive farming land, particularly with respect to the natural resources the sector is reliant on, AgriSA said.

While the importance of mining to the South African economy was acknowledged, the competition for natural resources between agriculture and mining was self-evident, it added.

AgriSA emphasised that food security and the preservation of agricultural land, particularly high-value agricultural land, needed to be prioritised.

South Africa’s government signalled that it is making headway in resolving an impasse over a new national medical-insurance plan that critics say will infringe on the rights of patients and health-care workers and sideline the private sector. 

And, breakthrough in NHI impasse

President Cyril Ramaphosa signed off on the National Health Insurance Act less than two weeks before May elections in which the African National Congress lost the parliamentary majority it had held for the past three decades.

A 10-party coalition government was formed after the vote and some of its members oppose the legislation, which provides a framework for citizens to secure universal access to health care through a centrally managed government fund that buys services from public and private providers. The law currently bans the private sector from offering cover for treatment available under NHI.

An understanding has been agreed to drop a provision that would have caused the collapse of private medical-insurance companies, Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen said.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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