Expropriation of land ‘will not be smash and grab’

Expropriation of land without compensation will be handled in a responsible manner to ensure the country’s economy and food security are not adversely affected, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Tuesday.

“In dealing with this complex matter, we will not make the mistakes that others have made. We will not allow smash-andgrab interventions. We will handle this matter in the same way we have handled all difficult issues our country has had to handle. We will always seek to do what is in the interests of our people,” Ramaphosa said during his reply to the state of the nation address debate in Parliament.

After delivering his reply, Ramaphosa received a standing ovation from almost the entire house, a marked departure from the days of former president Jacob Zuma during which the National Assembly often descended into chaos.

Talk of expropriation without compensation dominated the debate on the state of the nation address on Monday, with some opposition parties warning that the policy will have a devastating impact on the economy and food security.

Ramaphosa said the land reform programme should not been seen as a threat but an opportunity to tackle the wrongs of the past.

He said the expropriation without compensation policy was meant to tackle “the original sin”, which was the taking of land from indigenous people.

“There are few in our country who would contest the fact that dispossession of black South Africans of their land contributed fundamentally to the impoverishment and disempowerment of the majority of our people.

“The expropriation of land without compensation is envisaged as one of the measures that we will use to accelerate the redistribution of land to black South Africans. We will need to determine, collectively, how we can implement this measure in a way that promotes agricultural production, improves food security, advances rural development, reduces poverty and strengthens our economy,” Ramaphosa said.

The ANC decided at its conference in December to push for amendments to the Constitution that will pave the way for the government to expropriate land without compensation — a move that observers say will probably spook investors.