Parliament passes Expropriation Bill to intensify land redistribution

26 May 2016  

The African National Congress in Parliament is pleased by the passing of the Expropriation bill by the National Assembly today, bringing to conclusion years of hard work by Parliament on this crucial draft legislation. The Bill was initially passed by the National Assembly in February 2016 and referred to the National Council of Provinces, which made its own amendments. The amendments were adopted by the National Assembly today, and the Bill will now be send to the President for signing into a Law to repeal the apartheid era Expropriation Act of 1975

The passing of the Bill by Parliament is historic, as it sounds a death knell for the ineffectual willing buyer-willing seller approach to land reform, and heralds a new era of intensified land distribution programme to bring the long-awaited justice to the dispossessed majority of South Africans. The Bill empowers the State to expropriate land for public purpose or in the public interest through a just and equitable compensation. While through the willing buyer-willing seller principle the State was unable to acquire land without the owner's consent or the owner's determined exorbitant amount, the State will now be allowed to expropriate by paying an amount determined by the Valuer-General, even without the owner consenting to the amount offered or the expropriation itself.

The willing buyer- willing seller principle has in the past forced government to pay extortionate amounts for land, frustrated the redistribution process and hamstrung its ability to achieve redistribution targets.

The past racially based injustices of land dispossession; economic deprivation and subjugation have condemned the majority of South Africans to devastating generational suffering, resulting in poverty, inequality and unemployment which continue to confront their daily lives today.

The principle of expropriation through just and equitable compensation is firmly in line with Section 25 of the Constitution, which empowers the State to expropriate land by offering a "just and equitable" compensation to correct the current racially skewed land ownership created by the past apartheid and colonial injustices.

The Court of law shall serve as a final arbiter in an event the owner wishes to challenge the compensation offered.

The passing of this kind of Bill today is historic and a necessary intervention to land reform.

Issued by Moloto Mothapo on behalf of the Office of the ANC Chief Whip, 26 May 2016