South Africa withdraws land bill

South Africa’s Parliament has withdrawn an expropriation bill that allowed the state to make compulsory purchases of land to redress racial disparities in ownership, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) says.

The aim of the 2016 bill, which had not been signed into law, was to allow the state to pay for land at a value determined by a government representative and then expropriate it for the “public interest”. That would have put an end to the willing-buyer, willing-seller approach to land reform.

The Government this month announced it is instead focusing on changing the constitution to allow the expropriation of land without compensation.

The Government is holding public hearings on land reform across the country so the public can comment on the ANC’s proposal to change the constitution.

Nonceba Mhlauli, a spokeswoman for the ANC’s chief whip, said the bill “in its current form would need to be reconsidered in light of the process of reviewing Section 25 of the constitution for the expropriation of land without compensation”.

“Were the bill to be reintroduced, it would contain a clause or clauses reflecting expropriation of land without compensation if that is the way that South Africans have chosen to go,” she said.

White South Africans make up 8 per cent of the population but own almost 75 per cent of the country’s agricultural land, according to a land audit by farm lobbying group Agri SA. That is down from 87 per cent during apartheid.