A messy and protracted fight over property rights is looming in South Africa after a panel of lawmakers said the constitution must be changed to make it easier to seize land without paying for it.

The outcome of the parliamentary review committee that proposed that the country's constitution be amended to provide for expropriation without compensation did not come as a surprise to TAU SA as it was expected in the light of the dubious processes and the emotional uproar.

The growing need to boost rural economic activity through agricultural development hasre-introduced the discussion on the subdivision of land to create as many small farms as possible that will benefit communities in South Africa.

"An important aspect of the ANC government's land expropriation policy without compensation is the question why the amendment of Section 25 of the Constitution is so important because it already makes it possible, according to virtually all legal opinions and other opinions, already allow expropriation without compensation. 

The constitutional review committee (CRC) has recommended to parliament that the Constitution be amended to allow expropriation without compensation (EWC). There have been negative reactions from many sources.

While land reform has dominated South Africa’s headlines, it has also emerged as a major polarising issue in Namibia ahead of next year’s national election. Populist pressure, fears around the trajectory of the economy and uncertainty about how the process will be administered in Namibia have raised alarm, particularly among investors.

Deputy president David Mabuza told the National Assembly in Parliament  that the committee on land reform, which he chairs, was fundamentally opposed to land reform that would leave farms derelict and unproductive.

South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe announced on Sunday that his family, under his charity foundation, will donate R3.5 billion to help with the contentious issue of land reform in the country and the sustainable development goals.  

An amendment to the constitution to make it clear that expropriation without compensation can be used as a means to address skewed land ownership patterns is a step closer to being a done deal.

Agri SA will continue to pursue all credible avenues to protect the interests of farmers and farming communities, including challenging an amendment of section 25 in court. Decision by parliament is not the final step in the process, and there is time and legal remedies remaining to halt an amendment.

Land reform is necessary in South Africa, but that is about the only issue regarding land reform on which there is consensus.

South Africa's lawmakers are moving towards amending the constitution to expropriate land without compensation. This is a hot issue more than two decades after the end of apartheid, writes Privilege Musvanhiri.

“The consequences of so many people going to bed without a proper meal are manifold”, said TAU SA General Manager Bennie van Zyl, keynote speaker at a recent international conference on agriculture in Cape Town sponsored by Agri-Food-Aqua of London, England.

Ten farmers have served notice they will claim R1.9 billion, and there are thousands more where they came from.
A report in Afrikaans weekly Rapport today reveals that at least 10 farmers plan to put in a compensation claim for nearly R2 billion against the South African taxpayer over their losses in Zimbabwe.

Since the adoption of a resolution by ANC’s elective conference in December 2017, to change the constitutional provision requiring equitable compensation for land expropriated by the state, the dialogue on the specific constitutional clause as well as on land distribution and ownership in this country appears trapped between the extremes of hyperbole and double talk.

The South African Government has tabled the types of property it will be targeting for land expropriation without compensation, following reports of a leaked document at the start of December.

In 2017 South Africa heard for the first time that the ANC had taken a stand to consider amending Section 25 of the Constitution to allow for the expropriation of land without compensation. Since the landmark announcement at the ruling party’s 54th national policy conference, land reform has dominated public conversation in 2018.

Guests at the Tugela Private Game Reserve once rambled through the bush in open-air four-wheel-drives in search of leopards, elephants and other wildlife that roamed the 17,000-acre property.

The draft Expropriation Bill gazetted by public works minister Thulas Nxesi last week for public comment was a disappointment and would not accelerate land reform, the Land Access Movement of SA (Lamosa) said.

The African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa is attempting to give white-owned land back to its Black indigenous population, after a legacy of colonization resulted in this theft, thus denying Black South Africans of many economic opportunities.