Land reform: ‘Clear’ policy needed to avoid wholesale ‘dispossession’

University of the Western Cape’s Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies head, Ruth Hall, used last week’s meeting of the ad hoc parliamentary committee tasked with drafting amendments to section 25 of the Constitution (property rights) to emphasise the importance of a ‘clear compensation policy to back up expropriation’. According to a committee media statement on input received from ‘experts on land reform and the Constitution’, in Hall’s view the prevailing compensation formula ‘has no basis in law’. Possibly in that context, members were warned of the perils of opening the door to wholesale ‘dispossession’ regardless of the circumstances in which land was acquired, notes Pam Saxby for Legalbrief Policy Watch.

More generally, the committee was reminded of the need for a ‘meticulous’ process that should ‘not come across as being rushed’ and should also contribute to ‘nation building’. Hall urged government to ‘expedite’ the necessary legislation, including a Land Records Bill, a Land Redistribution Bill and the revised Expropriation Bill. This is the second meeting to have been held by the committee since the appointment of its chair, Thoko Didiza, on 12 February. The first focused on the complex legislative process to be followed when amending the Constitution’s Bill of Rights, of which section 25 forms part.

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