Ramaphosa to fully implement Expropriation Act

President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for the full implementation of the Expropriation Act, which he says will be used to reclaim hijacked and abandoned buildings in Johannesburg. According to City Press, the President made these remarks during his two-day supervisory visit to Gauteng on Thursday and Friday, as several G20 meetings are held in the city. Ramaphosa expressed deep concern to the Provincial Executive Committee over the deteriorating conditions in Johannesburg, pointing to challenges such as hijacked buildings, a worsening water crisis, non-functional streetlights and failing infrastructure. ‘Sometimes it’s good to be direct and say it as it is. I should say that one or two meetings of the G20 that I attended here were not very pleasing. The environment that one observed was not a pleasing environment,’ Ramaphosa said.

Public Works & Infrastructure Deputy Minister Sihle Zikalala echoed Ramaphosa’s words, emphasising that the Expropriation Act would be a critical tool in fast-tracking urban renewal. ‘The first thing from our side is to accelerate the programme of operation. All government buildings that are not occupied or are illegally occupied must be reclaimed by the state, renovated or even destroyed if they cannot be salvaged.’ According to Zikalala, renovated buildings would be repurposed for social housing, commercial spaces or student accommodation to restore Johannesburg’s urban vibrancy. City Press notes Ramaphosa has pushed for the use of the Expropriation Act to reclaim urban spaces for the public good, emphasising that this should be done even without compensation, where applicable. ‘Today, you have several abandoned buildings, buildings that have been hijacked or are not paying rates and taxes. Those buildings can become investment vehicles where we can accommodate our people with dignity. We can turn around those abandoned buildings,’ said Ramaphosa. ‘Where the owners have run away, they should be subjected to the law that we’ve passed, the Expropriation Act, even without compensation. The buildings should be taken and turned into living accommodation. It falls wonderfully under the interpretation of our Constitution and the law; it would be for the useful purpose of our people.’ Legalbrief notes the comments come in the wake of a diplomatic fall-out between the US and SA after President Donald Trump, in indirect references to the Expropriation Act, accused SA of using targeting Afrikaner people and expropriating their land.

Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero previously told City Press that the metro had secured 12 court orders to reclaim the hijacked buildings. He estimated that there were about 400 hijacked buildings, with 15 owned by the city, while the rest were either private properties or abandoned by owners who had left the country. Morero explained that, although there was aggressive work in cleaning up the inner city and reclaiming highjacked buildings, the main challenge was finding alternative accommodation for people living in those buildings, which slowed down the process.

Full City Press report