‘Challenge to expropriation Act was launched before assessing impact’

Senior counsel for Parliament, Adv Kate Hofmeyr SC, has described the DA’s legal challenge to the Expropriation Act as a move that was launched before assessing the impact of the Act on people.

Hofmeyr presented the argument at Western Cape High Court where the DA, Afri-Forum, Die Vaderland Stigting, and the Institute for Race Relations Legal are challenging the legality of the Act.

The applicants maintain that the Act was approved unlawfully by Parliament and want the court to declare it unconstitutional.

Hofmeyr has also submitted that the court has a jurisdiction on the matter.

“It chose when to launch this litigation. It chose to litigate before the Act took effect. It, therefore, chose to bring an abstract challenge before there was any impact of this law on anyone. The second choice is what to attack and how to attack. It made a choice about whether it’s gonna run a public participation case that would’ve fallen within the exclusive jurisdiction of the constitutional court or to try and run a different type of case,” says Hofmeyr.

Video: Expropriation Act court challenge | 06 August 2026