PARLIAMENT - The National Assembly on Tuesday adopted a report that delegates the task of drafting an amendment to the Constitution to explicitly allow expropriation to the Sixth Parliament that will come into being after the May elections.
The report was agreed to by 210 votes to 61, with the DA, African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) and Freedom Front Plus (FF+) signalling that they would continue to fight an amendment.
Steve Swart of the ACDP said the issue remained highly divisive while Pieter Mulder of the FF+ termed it an election ploy on the part of the EFF and the governing ANC.
He said it was patently clear that it would be impossible to drive through a constitutional amendment before the elections but the EFF was desperate to sell it to voters as a policy shift it forced onto the ANC.
"We will still go to court," he warned.
The second parliamentary committee tasked with the process concluded last week that a law change before the vote was not feasible and that it would therefore be revived by the incoming parliament.
On Tuesday, the EFF accused the ANC of delay tactics and said land would only be given back to the dispossessed if it came to power.
"Our people must know who is for them and who is against them," said EFF MP Phillip Mhlongo. "This land shall be restored when people have voted for EFF in 2019 elections."