{"id":401219,"date":"2020-05-25T08:06:48","date_gmt":"2020-05-25T06:06:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=401219"},"modified":"2020-05-25T08:06:48","modified_gmt":"2020-05-25T06:06:48","slug":"coronavirus-hits-south-africas-plans-for-land-expropriation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/property\/401219\/coronavirus-hits-south-africas-plans-for-land-expropriation\/","title":{"rendered":"Coronavirus hits South Africa&#8217;s plans for land expropriation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The plan to amend section 25 of South Africa&#8217;s Constitution to allow for land expropriation without compensation has been put on hold due to the ongoing coronavirus lockdown.<\/p>\n<p>In a parliamentary meeting on Friday evening (22 May), the committee responsible for amending the Consitution said it needs for more time to complete its work and that it will send a letter to the speaker of the National Assembly asking for an extension.<\/p>\n<p>The committee said that it would not include a specific time frame in the extension, but instead would ask for a postponement until the country&#8217;s lockdown levels allow for physical meetings.<\/p>\n<p>This is important as the process still requires public hearings, it said.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/apZ0rG9roxI\" width=\"640\" height=\"430\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Government published a draft land expropriation bill for public comment in December 2019. President Cyril Ramaphosa has previously said that South Africa must <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/property\/366254\/south-africa-must-finalise-land-expropriation-policy-in-2020-ramaphosa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">finalise<\/a> <\/strong>its land expropriation policy in 2020.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">\u201cThis year we are going to have to finalize the legislation and the constitutional construct on the land question,\u201d he said at a conference in January.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">\u201cOne of the things we have been asking for is the business community to come forward with solutions of resolving the centuries-old problem of land,\u201d he told the country\u2019s largest business lobby group. \u201cI would like to see the business community taking this issue up rather more seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ramaphosa asked business leaders to play a more proactive role in land expropriation through a donations policy, which will allow for companies to voluntarily give up under-utilized land to communities whose land was taken away.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat is a certainty is that the land question has to be addressed. As South Africa we cannot run away from it,\u201d he said. \u201cThe key issue for us is: Are we going to be part of the solution or are we going to be part of the problem?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Press ahead\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The US has warned of the damaging effects of land expropriation without compensation, with US secretary of State Mike Pompeo stating that the policy will be <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/375236\/south-africas-land-policy-a-disaster-for-the-economy-us-secretary-of-state\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u2018disastrous\u2019<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0for South Africa\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n<p>Pompeo said that the policy proposal is an example of centralised planning that has failed in other African states like Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Ethiopia.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSouth Africa is debating an amendment to permit the expropriation of private property without compensation,\u201d he said. \u201cThat would be disastrous for that economy, and most importantly for the South African people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>African economies need \u2018strong rule of law, respect for property rights, regulation that encourages investment\u2019 for inclusive and sustainable economic growth, Pompeo said.<\/p>\n<p>Despite these warning, president Cyril Ramaphosa said in February that the government will <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/375781\/land-expropriation-in-south-africa-is-happening-whether-the-us-likes-it-or-not\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">press ahead<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0with plans to distribute more land to the black majority in an orderly fashion, warning that a failure to do so would perpetuate an injustice that dates back to apartheid rule and constrain the economy.<\/p>\n<p>He reiterated that the government supports changing the constitution to make it easier for it to take land without compensation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLand grabs will not be allowed to happen in our country,\u201d Ramaphosa said. \u201cWe refuse to be reckless.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/401115\/all-of-south-africa-moving-to-level-3-lockdown-from-1-june-here-are-all-the-changes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">All of South Africa moving to level 3 lockdown from 1 June \u2013 here are all the changes<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The plan to amend section 25 of South Africa&#8217;s Constitution to allow for land expropriation without compensation has been put on hold due to the ongoing coronavirus lockdown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":347372,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12755],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-401219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-property","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401219","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\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401219"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":401289,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401219\/revisions\/401289"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}