An amendment to section 25 of the constitution has the potential to undermine all property rights, which could hurt the financial sector and the broader economy, the Banking Association of SA (Basa) warned on Friday. Basa said changes to the property clause will also undermine SA’s efforts to address the triple challenge of unemployment, poverty, and inequality. Basa is the industry body representing all registered banks in SA. Banks have about R1.6-trillion in property loans, including for land, commercial property and home loans. The joint constitutional review committee is holding public hearings on the possibility of amending section 25 of the constitution to make it clear how land could be expropriated without compensation. In his submission to the committee, Basa MD Cas Coovadia said that while it was essential for SA to deal with land reform, this had to be done without discouraging investment. "We need to be careful about tinkering with the constitution … I am certainly of t...