Land seizure with no pay an aspiration

EXPROPRIATION without compensation was an aspiration and not an ANC policy, Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti said.

Briefing journalists on several bills addressing land reform yesterday, Nkwinti said expropriation without compensation was on the agenda during a cabinet lekgotla before President Jacob Zuma delivered his State of the Nation address in February.

“It’s one of the aspirations we expressed. This is the direction we’re going to take to the national policy conference in June… so there is no determination in this regard yet,” he said.

Nkwinti said the Regulation of Agricultural Land Holdings Bill, which would bar foreigners from owning land, would comply fully with the constitution.

He gave the assurance “there will be no arbitrary taking away of their land”.

“We said as a department we would seek a declaratory order on that point because South African law will not accept or agree that you dispossess somebody without just equitable compensation so we are mindful of that,” he said.

A key feature of the bill is the creation of a land commission which would register all agricultural holdings in the country with owners having to provide details of race, gender, and nationality.

The bill, with the Extension of Security of Tenure Amendment Bill, the Communal Land Tenure Bill, the Communal Association Amendment Bill, the Land Valuation Regulations under the Property Valuation Act of 2014, will be introduced in Parliament this year.

While the legislation would be “constrained” by section 25 of the constitution, he said expropriation without compensation was still on the table for possible implementation. – ANA