Expropriation Bill has the potential to fatally wound our economy

Is the government trying to sneak in “expropriation without compensation” through the back door by subtle wording in the latest Expropriation Bill? That is the question being asked by expert researcher Dr Anthea Jeffrey, of the Institute of Race Relations.

In a piece today, Jeffrey says that while the clauses about “nil compensation” in the Bill are vague, the real threat lies in the definition of expropriation in the draft legislation which, she says, may be “used as the foundation for a host of uncompensated custodial takings”.

The Bill suggests outright expropriation might be augmented by the principle of “custodianship”, where “the state takes control of, say, all private property, to dispense as it wishes”.

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This, she points out, could have “devastating consequences” for the country’s 11.5 million homeowners, some 9.6 million of whom are black. All these individuals could have their ownership rights replaced by 25- year “land-use licences” – to be granted or terminated “as deployed cadres think fit”.

Even worse, people will still have to pay off their bonds even though they no longer “own their property”. State custodianship of the land was something of an EFF campaign pillar because, Jeffreys says, it recognised that the only way to bring about true land seizure without compensation would be to follow that procedure.

The ANC, which claimed initially to be opposed to the idea, has included it in the proposed Bill. If the Bill passes, then clearly it will be challenged in the courts – and hopefully our judiciary will continue to uphold not only its independence, but also the rights enshrined in the constitution, one of which is the right to property.

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However, this piece of legislation has the potential to fatally wound our economy, not only because private property owners would be threatened, but so would investment, not to mention our entire banking system.