Goldman Sachs investor conference<\/a> on Wednesday (15 May), Ramaphosa spoke on government’s strategy with land expropriation without compensation, trying to allay fears that private property rights would be put at risk.<\/p>\nThe president told investors that government would not invite foreign investment to the country and then take their land – calling such a move nonsensical – but he said that the issue of land reform had to be addressed.<\/p>\n
He said that the topic, which has been making headlines since it was adopted at the ANC’s 2017 policy conference, has brought a lot of ‘interesting interpretations’ to the fore.<\/p>\n
However, Ramaphosa stressed that the government was looking for a fully integrated solution with participation from all sectors, which will lead to something that’s good for the country.<\/p>\n
“We will ensure that the process of land reform takes place in an orderly manner, in a manner where everyone will participate,” he said.<\/p>\n
“I’ve said it before – foreign investors have nothing to fear; there’s no way we can invite foreign investors to our country and say ‘come, invest’ and tomorrow we take your land away.<\/p>\n
“That is not going to happen. That is not sensible. It’s not something that any sensible person does.”<\/p>\n
Working together with the EFF in Parliament, the ANC managed to secure the two-thirds majority needed to start the process to make changes to South Africa’s constitution, which will more explicitly allow for the government to take land without compensating the owners.<\/p>\n
Following the 2019 elections, the ANC’s 57.5% and the EFF’s 10.8% provide for another two-thirds majority (68.3%) to ensure this process continues.<\/p>\n
Clarifying the intent behind the change, Ramaphosa said that South Africa would pass the Expropriation Act in Parliament, which is a law the country has always had, which will now be “revamped to be in-line with current imperatives”.<\/p>\n
The new laws, he said, would identify the types of land that can be looked at for the expropriation process, and the specific circumstances under which it can happen.<\/p>\n
He added that South Africa has large parcels of land which are owned by state-owned enterprises, municipalities and over government branches, and that’s what the land the new laws would focus on.<\/p>\n
“In urban areas, people want land to build homes, and a lot of that land is owned by municipalities and SOEs – we’re going to be focused on that.”<\/p>\n
“Everything will be done in terms of the constitution and the rule of law, he said. “There will never be land grabs. We will not allow land grabs to happen.”<\/p>\n
Focus on the economy<\/strong><\/p>\nSpeaking on the wider economy, Ramaphosa said that government needs to start focusing on specific sectors to help grow the economy, instead of looking at the broader market.<\/p>\n
He admitted that the country’s regulatory framework has been impeding a lot of business activity – particularly for small and medium businesses. He said permits, visas and other impediments and constraints have been made known to him and other government departments.<\/p>\n
He wants the strategy moving forward to be focused on removing these obstacles for business.<\/p>\n
Ramaphosa said that all of South Africa’s issues revolve around one problem – low economic growth – and in the coming weeks, he will announce a reduced, restructured cabinet, and fill it with leaders who will work towards what is best for the economy, and the country.<\/p>\n
“We are going to be a focused on generating more economic growth and creating jobs – so the structure that will be in place will speak to that,” he said.<\/p>\n
\nRead: Here\u2019s where the rand could go after Ramaphosa chooses his cabinet<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Cyril Ramaphosa has addressed investors’ concerns over land expropriation without compensation – and his key economic focus as South Africa heads into its sixth democratically elected government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":300236,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-317222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317222"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":317258,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317222\/revisions\/317258"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}