President processing matters around Expropriation Bill

©scanrail via 123RF

The bill was voted for adoption in the National Assembly in May‚ despite several opposition parties voting against it. Opponents of the bill fear that it will be used to take over farms as part of land reforms.

Government introduced the bill in order to make progressive land purchases to address inequalities caused by the apartheid regime without being prevented by the willing buyer, willing seller principle. It was introduced to make provision for a more coherent process of handling the expropriation of land and speeding up land reform.

It seeks to align the Expropriation Act of 1975 with the Constitution and to provide a common framework to guide the processes and procedures for the expropriation of land by organs of State.

The bill, once signed into law, will enable government to purchase land at a value determined by the State adjudicator and then expropriate - provided that the Minister of Public Works is satisfied that the land purchase is in the “public interest”.

“If the expropriating authority and expropriated owner or expropriated holder do not agree on the amount of compensation, they may attempt to settle the dispute by mediation, which must be initiated and finalised without undue delay by either party,” an excerpt from the bill reads.