Tshwane - The Democratic Alliance on Saturday remained resolute against land expropriation without compensation with its federal congress unanimously adopting a motion to protect section 25 of the Constitution which deals with land reform.
The DA congress is currently adopting resolutions which it will offer to South Africans should the party govern after next year’s elections. The party says it is committed to promoting justice in land reform, but not by making the state a proxy for land ownership, and ensuring that those entitled to land receive it in the form of direct ownership.
DA federal council deputy chairman Thomas Walters said the party would not allow land reform to be used as a "decisive and racially charged lightening conductor to pull public attention away from the failures of government".
Earlier, DA leader Mmusi Maimane accused the African National Congress and the Economic Freedom Fighters of forging an alliance to depose Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Athol Trollip after the DA declined to support expropriation of land without compensation.
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The DA has also adopted a resolution to allow job seekers to opt out of minimum wage proposals, settling for a lower wage if they want to. The party said the proposed legislation should not prevent people earning a living on their own terms.
People who had been unemployed for 12 months or more should have the right to enter into employment agreements with employers on whatever conditions they were comfortable with.
The DA has been vocal on the recent one percent increase in VAT, and the congress agreed to support reducing VAT to the previous 14 percent, saying it would make up for revenue shortfalls by cutting the size of cabinet, public sector performance bonuses for top level management, and reducing the number of foreign missions, among other things.