Bad News for Orange Grove (and elsewhere) from the Expropriation Bill
The Expropriation Bill of 2015 (the Bill) will allow ‘a decisive shift away from apartheid spatial planning to more inclusive settlements close to places of work’, said ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa in late April.
This is a goal very many South Africans would endorse. But how many know how the Bill would work in practice, or what its wider ramifications are likely to be?
A practical example may help to show the likely consequences. In Orange Grove in Johannesburg, for instance, many black and white South Africans have homes or business premises adjoining the Rea Vaya bus route at the heart of the Government’s proposed ‘Corridors of Freedom’.
Under the Bill, the City of Johannesburg (the City) would have to start by negotiating with these owners to buy their properties for, say, 70% of their market value. If they refuse, the City – after inviting and then rejecting their written objections (which it could do without giving reasons) – would be able to serve notices of expropriation on them all.
If these notices were served on 1 July, ownership could automatically pass to the City the very next day, on 2nd July. (The only time constraint in the Bill is that ownership cannot pass on 30th June, the day before the service of the notice.) The right to possess the properties could pass to the City on 3rd July. The City could again offer 70% of market value as compensation and then give the expropriated owners 60 days in which to sue for more – failing which they would be ‘deemed’ to have accepted its offer.