Viv Vermaak: EWC – Don’t panic! (But if you have to, do it like this) - Biznews

Viv Vermaak

When I heard President Cyril Ramaphosa recently signed the EWC (Expropriation Without Compensation) Bill into law, I was deeply disturbed. A great sadness crept over me with a warm rash attached to it. I was so sad I wanted to protest and march. “It’s been too a long walk to freedom to sit this still,” I thought. I wondered whether Leon Louw was also woeful.

Few people know this, but Louw, currently the CEO of policy think tank, the Freedom Foundation, was almost single-handedly responsible for us having private property rights in our constitution at all. I called him for comment.

In solemn tones, I earnestly thanked him for the fact that I had the privilege of owning my own house which they will probably take away soon. I expected him to be similarly gloomy. “You must be very distressed,” I said. “No, I am not,” he replied with mild amusement. “I don’t understand why everything must be experienced as these momentous cataclysms. People are panicking at the wrong time for the wrong reasons and on behalf of the wrong people.” He did share some frustration though, but not aimed at Ramaphosa or the ANC, rather at white liberals and right-aligned political organisations whom he said should know better by now.

“I am amazed that supposedly clever people continue to do such dumb things. They are playing right into the gaping maw of the race monster, so masterfully wielded by their opposition. White people and Afrikaners have to stop making it about themselves. Not only is it the incorrect way to look at the land reform problem, it is ineffective. They fall into the trap every time!”

Young liberal
I recall myself, as a young liberal in the early 1990s, following the constitutional negotiations at CODESA (Convention for a Democratic South Africa) with great excitement and anticipation. It would define the rainbow nation. News would leak via cryptic clues in headlines or saucy details along the grapevine – will South Africa become a constitutional democracy or surrender to socialist ideals because of the ANC’s strong bonds with Russia and the Communist Party? Will any principles of freedom be enshrined? Figures like Louw loomed large in these talks and tales of his negotiation mastery were legendary. Could he swing it? The stakes were high.

All the parties met at the round table. Each party sent two people to negotiate on their behalf, a man and a woman. The delegates for the ANC were Cyril Ramaphosa and Naledi Pandor. Louw was there in an advisory capacity, adding value as a concerned citizen, constitutional lawyer, and founding father of the Free Market Foundation. Hammering out the constitution was tough and it went through many iterations as parties disagreed on what should be kept and what not.

Louw noticed that the version emerging from Arniston excluded private property rights. The right to private property is the cornerstone of a free market democracy. Its inclusion in Section 25 was thus paramount. Louw was alarmed at its omission but more appalled that he seemed to be the only one upset. To great applause FW de Klerk emerged from a chamber triumphant, announcing to his people: “They allowed us to keep Die Stem!” The news made headlines around the world. Afrikaners rejoiced; they had their national anthem.

Everybody cheered, except Louw, who privately thought: “O fok, we are in trouble. If we think trading private property rights for a symbolic song is a victory, it is time to panic. I called battle stations.” Together with Raymond Parsons of the South African Chamber of Business and others, they formed a caucus and approached every single party and player at the table. The painstaking consultations resulted in us keeping private property rights and Die Stem, making South Africa’s constitution among the most liberal and free in the world.

Section 25
How did he do it? What was it Louw said to convince Ramaphosa to keep Section 25 in that specific form? “It is the same argument I advise people to use today. Ask yourself: who are the biggest losers if land gets expropriated without compensation? No, not the whites or the Afrikaners – the blacks. Black people today are as defenceless in terms of property rights as they were under Apartheid, especially the poor. Thousands of shacks, houses and dwellings are bulldozed and expropriated every day to make way for clinics or other government agendas, without so much as a consultation, never mind compensation. There are millions of black South Africans who own property, but don’t have title deeds because of government bureaucracy and corruption.

These are the people you need to march for or march with. Black people are the biggest losers with EWC. Bringing whiteness or Afrikaans into it is misguided and strategically lamentable. Stop taking the bait!”

Louw cautioned me about performative outrage because it is so see-through. “I don’t believe the people complaining the loudest now truly think the ANC will start taking their property,” he said. “The Bill is not constitutional, obviously so. The Sandton homeowner or businessman will simply challenge it in court. Furthermore, people know the ANC is too incompetent to administer large-scale implementation of these grand schemes.” He graciously acknowledged my gratitude towards him for the advantage of owning my own home but assured me my house was not at stake here. “Don’t panic,” he advised.

The recent signing of the EWC Bill into law is just another bump on the road for Louw, one he says one must acknowledge and deal with appropriately. The Freedom Foundation influences policy by systematically nudging in the direction of free markets and free speech for all. He says they will do it with EWC as well, guiding government decision-makers to think more efficiently.

The end goal is a growing economy, more individuals with title deeds to their property, and a thorough understanding that the two are closely linked. We should push back, he says, but doing it swathed in anything that hints at language sensitivity or the victim narrative whites are so fond of, is scoring an own goal.

Urge
I took a moment to absorb what he told me and then confessed that I still felt the urge to ‘do’ something. I was not sure, I said, whether the bristly feeling I had was righteous indignation or slight embarrassment at being caught out playing the victim card, but it felt important to take some kind of action. What does he suggest I do?

“Write about it, as you are doing now. That’s good,” he said. “Take some time to think more deeply about issues, that is always a good idea. If you really want to march, then find or organise a march in Alex or Khayelitsha and protest in solidarity with those communities. Protect your vulnerable skin with a hat or sunblock and try not to burst into ‘Uit die blou van onse hemel” along the way.

Viv Vermaak is an award-winning investigative journalist, writer and director

https://www.biznews.com/thought-leaders/2025/02/02/viv-vermaak-ewc-panic

This article was first published on the Daily Friend.