IN THE SPOTLIGHT: PREVENTION OF ILLEGAL EVICTION FROM & UNLAWFUL OCCUPATION OF LAND AMENDMENT BILL

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: PREVENTION OF ILLEGAL EVICTION FROM & UNLAWFUL OCCUPATION OF LAND AMENDMENT BILL

• 28 February 2026
• In the Spotlight
• SA Legal Academy

The fate of Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Emma Powell’s Prevention of Illegal Eviction from & Unlawful Occupation of Land Amendment Bill remains undecided. Tabled in March 2023, as SA Legal Academy reported at the time, the Bill seeks to provide for:

• punitive measures for anyone found to have incited or promoted an unlawful land occupation, and
• regarding the courts:
  • explicit criteria to be considered during proceedings before granting an eviction order
  • the power to make an alternative accommodation order, and
  • in such instances, for the eviction order to specify the period for which the local, provincial or national government authority concerned would need to provide alternative accommodation or land.

Having lapsed when Parliament rose for the May 2024 elections, the Bill was later revived and has since been discussed during three meetings of the National Assembly’s Human Settlements Committee.

On 28 May 2025, during a Department of Human Settlements presentation on the Bill’s merits and shortcomings, members were told that work on amendments to the 1998 Act were ‘put on hold’ in 2008 pending further consultation. This was apparently in the context of developing the Human Settlements White Paper eventually published in 2024. The presentation also alluded to a review of the Act’s ‘policy foundation’.

With that in mind, while endorsing several key provisions in Powell’s Bill, the department chose not to support it – undertaking to finalise their policy review during the 2025/26 financial year and proceed with the development of appropriate amending legislation.

This tended to point to the imminent rejection of Powell’s Bill during the procedurally required vote on its desirability.

However, although the necessary motion of desirability featured on the agendas of the committee’s 29 October 2025 and 18 February 2026 meetings, the item was withdrawn each time.

On 29 October 2025, according to committee chair Albert Seapi, the decision was prompted by input received during a process of ‘thorough consultation with the leadership of Parliament and political parties’. At the time, Seapi referred to the importance of ‘consulting more widely’ and seeking ‘advice from party principals’ – alluding to the possibility of proceeding with the vote sometime during November 2026.

On 18 February 2026, Seapi withdrew the motion of desirability from the meeting’s agenda following Powell’s request for ‘further consultation’ in the interests of facilitating ‘a better understanding’ of the Bill’s proposals among committee members.

It is not clear what (if any) progress has been made by the department either in revising prevailing eviction policy or finalising their own amending legislation.

• DA Bill
• 28 May 2025 departmental presentation
• 29 October 2025 meeting (video)
• 18 February 2026 meeting (video)
• 2024 White Paper on Human Settlements

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

Follow us on X @SALegalAcademy (you can also join us on LinkedIn and Facebook)

If you use this information in articles, reports and social media posts of your own, please acknowledge SA Legal Academy Policy Watch as your source

0 COMMENTS

LEAVE A COMMENT