The decision to expropriate land without compensation for citizens in the country is not a wise decision and an alternative model should be implemented.

This is the DA's view contained in its 2019 manifesto which was launched on Saturday at the Rand Stadium in Johannesburg ahead of general elections scheduled for May 8.

"As with economic empowerment, land reform does not have to be carried out in a way that takes from one to give to another. The current plans for expropriation without compensation make land reform a zero-sum game when it need not be," the party says in its manifesto.

In the 75-page manifesto, the DA says land reform can and should be used to help economic development.

"The DA believes in the importance of land reform not only because of the imperative for redress but also because, if done in the right way, land reform can also be a powerful tool for the economic development of individuals and communities."

In December, the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) took a decision that section 25 of the constitution be amended to enable the expropriation of land without compensation in the public interest.

The EFF, which has been at the forefront of the push for the bill to come into effect, will need the ANC to get the two-thirds majority required to amend the Bill of Rights.

Meanwhile, the DA together with COPE, Freedom Front Plus and the African Christian Democratic Party are among those opposed to the motion.

After the National Assembly adopted a joint constitutional review committee report recommending that section 25 of the constitution should be changed to explicitly provide for land expropriation without compensation, the EFF has not shied away from saying it would not be willing to compromise on its first cardinal pillar, which is nationalisation of all land.

However, the DA says if it governs nationally, it will implement land reform where all stakeholders are winners.

"Individual land ownership and property rights are a cornerstone of all successful liberal democracies – these rights must be protected," the party says in its manifesto.

The DA also criticised the current land reform, saying that it is a corrupt model.

"The current land reform programme is riddled with corruption, the diversion of the land reform budget to elites, lack of political will, and lack of training and capacity – all of which have proved serious stumbling blocks to meaningful land reform.

"This failure has led our ruling party, so desperate to cling to power, to move to expropriate land without compensation – a move which will violate South Africans’ rights to private property ownership," the party states in its manifesto.

The DA further states that the country requires a land policy which will ensure that beneficiaries of land reform are empowered and supported through adequate funding of such programmes, a ruthless rooting out of corruption, and the political will to implement it.