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“We’re saying to the white people, let’s live together in peace, but we can’t live in peace if you don’t give us back what you stole from us.” So said leader of EFF at a Youth Day rally last week at the King Zwelithini Stadium in Kwazulu-Natal.
While urgent and necessary, land reform has been undermined for decades in SA, not by policy alone but by the corruption and mismanagement of its implementation. At the heart of this dysfunction is the failure to safeguard the institutions responsible for executing land reform.
One such example is Land Bank, an institution that once carried the institutional memory and technical capability to support emerging farmers and drive agricultural transformation. However, under the ANC-led government since 1994, Land Bank became a feeding trough for politically connected individuals. Instead of being a vehicle for empowerment, it was captured and repurposed to serve corrupt interests, squandering billions earmarked for land redistribution and farmer support.
This misuse of public funds and collapse of institutional integrity has contributed to the understandable anger of many South Africans over the slow pace of land reform. But that anger is often misdirected. It should be aimed at the politicians who enabled the dysfunction and the officials who participated in the looting.
Each year parliament has appropriated about R5bn to purchase land and provide post-settlement support. Yet rather than producing thriving land reform projects, much of this money has been either embezzled or poured into poorly conceived initiatives with little prospect of success. Accountability has been negligible, despite the vast sums involved.
As the public discourse turns once again to the issue of expropriation without compensation (EWC), it is critical to draw a firm line: nil compensation is a dangerous idea. It sets a precedent that opens the door to political abuse and undermines the very principles of fairness and justice that land reform is meant to uphold.
SA need only look to Kenya as a cautionary tale. Under the presidencies of Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel Arap Moi, Kenya’s post-independence land redistribution efforts were systematically hijacked by the political elite. The Ndung’u Commission, established to investigate illegal and irregular land allocations, found that the constitutional requirement for public land to be administered “in the public interest” was repeatedly violated.
Land intended for schools, hospitals and community development was instead allocated to politically connected individuals, often without any legal justification. Bureaucratic sabotage, unchecked presidential discretion and judicial complicity became defining features of Kenya’s land governance. The consequences have been far-reaching: entrenched inequality, land-related conflict and deep mistrust in public institutions — issues Kenya still grapples with today.
During my tenure as a provincial head at Land Bank, I hosted a delegation of Kenyan MBA students. In our discussions I briefed them on SA’s then-proposed 18th constitutional amendment, which aimed to enable land expropriation without compensation. They expressed deep concern — some even amusement — at the idea. Drawing from their country’s painful history, they warned that SA could not afford to follow Kenya’s path. They spoke candidly about Kenya’s ongoing struggle to attract agricultural investment due to tenure insecurity and a legacy of land mismanagement.
Investors remain wary of committing capital in an environment where property rights are not reliably protected. The students also expressed admiration for SA’s constitutional clarity on property rights and cautioned that undermining this protection would risk undoing years of democratic and economic progress.
Expropriation Act: deepening the deficiency
However well-intentioned, EWC risks becoming a smokescreen for elite capture. It weakens property rights, erodes confidence in legal institutions and creates the conditions for arbitrary state power. Enshrining this in law is not only dangerous, it is reckless.
The DA has made its position unequivocal: we reject the principle of nil compensation. We believe land reform must be just, constitutional and economically sustainable. There are no shortcuts to genuine transformation, only the hard work of building capable institutions, supporting beneficiaries and holding the corrupt accountable.
Rather than chasing populist slogans, the government must return to the pragmatic and evidence-based recommendations of the 2017 High-Level Panel chaired by former president Kgalema Motlanthe. That report offers a clear road map, including:
Establishing a credible and comprehensive land records system, especially for informal land rights;
Strengthening the institutional capacity of the department of agriculture, land reform and rural development;
Ensuring meaningful post-settlement support to enable beneficiaries to succeed; and
Prosecuting those who looted land reform funds to restore public trust.
Land reform must be about justice, restitution, and economic participation — not political theatre. If we are serious about empowering the landless and restoring dignity to those dispossessed by apartheid, then we must protect the integrity of the process.
That means recognising that nil compensation is not a progressive policy — it’s a gateway to abuse. Kenya’s history provides a sobering warning. SA must not repeat it.
• Masipa is DA Western Cape spokesperson on agriculture, economic development and tourism.
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When world leaders engage, the assumption is always that they engage on issues based on verified facts, which their administrative staff are supposed to prepare. Under this assumption, we thought the meeting at the White House on 21 May between South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, and US president Donald Trump would follow this pattern.
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South Africa’s violent crime epidemic is well-documented, with the South African Police Service (SAPS) reporting 26,232 murders in 2024.
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Speaking today, Miles Beale, chief executive of the Wine and Spirit Trade Association welcomed the reset, noted that anything that improves the relationships and practical arrangements with the EU is “great news”. However he warned that “as ever the devil is in the detail” and he looked forward to seeing the legal texts over the coming weeks.
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The 57th NAMPO Harvest Day, held from May 13–16, 2025, at NAMPO Park in Bothaville, Free State, was a resounding success, drawing over 86,000 visitors and 900 exhibitors under the theme
