A presidential panel set up to investigate South Africa’s land reform plans has given the policy of expropriation without compensation the green light, but has attached strict conditions to it.

There is no trade-off between land reform and agricultural production and productivity. This was the message from President Cyril Ramaphosa in the debate on the State of the Nation Address.  

Through interminable public debates, across iterations of expropriation and land governance legislation, and through a succession of policy proposals, we have warned against the threat of state encroachment and the ideological infrastructure supporting it.

This week the Parliament of South Africa voted against amending section 25 of the Constitution to provide for “expropriation without compensation” after four years of contestations.

By this time next week, the Expropriation Bill of 2020 (the Bill) may already have been adopted by the portfolio committee on public works and infrastructure and sent on to the National Assembly for its endorsement.