AfriBusiness opposes land expropriation without compensation

Afribusiness, a lobby group for the Afrikaans business community, said on Wednesday that it was strongly opposing attempts by government to expropriate land without compensation.

This comes after the Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, Gugile Nkwinti, said on Tuesday during the State of the Nation Address (Sona) debate in Parliament that property for purposes of land reform should be expropriated without compensation.

During his Sona last week, President Jacob Zuma said he had decided to refer the Expropriation Bill back to Parliament for reconsideration in a bid to pass constitutional muster in line with radical socio-economic transformation goals.

Zuma said only eight million hectares of arable land had been transferred to black people, which is only 9.8% of the 82 million hectares of arable land in South Africa.

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Afribusiness law and policy analyst, Armand Greyling, said in a statement that this seemed to suggest that government was attempting to follow the same route that has been taken in Zimbabwe with regard to property rights.

Greyling said Sections sections 25(2)(b) and 25(3) of the Constitution currently prohibited the acquisition of property by the state without providing compensation.

He said these sections determined that the expropriation of property was subject to just and equitable compensation, as well as how this was to be calculated.

Greyling said the Bill sent back to Parliament by Zuma still provided that just and equitable compensation was a requirement for expropriation of property, but government intended to do away with this requirement.

“AfriBusiness will not hesitate to institute legal proceedings to protect, defend and uphold the Constitution,” Greyling said.

“Should Government pass any form of legislation that seeks to undermine the sanctity of property rights in South Africa, it will be faced with strong opposition.”

– African News Agency

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